Love can come from far
by belf14
Summary: Senior year is about to start. Lucas and Brooke, broke up before summer. Nathan and Haley are hapilly married and Peyton has just gotten over Jake. A new student is about to enter Tree Hill High and will have an effect on everyone. Brucas, Naley.
1. Chapter 1

This is the first time I've ever written a story/ fanfic. My mother tongue isn't English so I would love to get tips to make my story better. I hope you enjoy reading it!

Chapter 1: Tree Hill here I come

"I can't believe this day came so quickly" said a young man to himself as he looked at his reflection in the mirror, his dark blond hair pointing in every direction, blue eyes with green spots round his pupils, pale since he haven't been sleeping much, still suffering from a jetlag. It only had been a week since he flew in from Holland to spend a year in the sates as an exchange student.

He went out of the bathroom into his room and started gathering some books for his first day of school.

"Are you presentable?" The young man looked up and saw a short man with brown hair standing in the door. "Can I come in?" asked the man with a slight New Zealand accent. "Sure come in Andy, I'm just getting my books" the young man replied.

"So are you ready for your first day of school?", Andy asked with compassion, he was glad that he had someone to talk to, when he volunteered to be a host to a foreign exchange student, he still was married to his wife Catherine, but only three month's after they found out they would be hosting someone his wife died in a car crash. Since his wife was really excited about having someone stay with them, he decided not to cancel and let the student stay with him the coming year. He was glad he had some company in his big mansion.

"Ready as I'll ever be" the young man replied nervously. "Ok, well I've got a surprise for you, call it a welcome to the states gift" Andy said as he lead his guest down to the garage.

After passing a Ferrari, Porsche, Mustang and a Range Rover they ended up at a car covered with a sheet. "Go ahead, uncover it already" Andy said, awaiting his guest's reaction. The young man walked closer to the sheet grabbed it firmly and pulled it away. His mouth just fell open when he saw a brand new black Mercedes S500 standing in front of him. Andy started laughing and threw the keys to his guest. "Andy this is too much, I can't drive this, what if something happens, I won't be able to forgive myself if I scratch it or something." Don't worry about it, you need transportation and I want you to ride in style. So hop in darn it!" Andy said jokingly. They young man obeyed his host and got in, and tried to figure out what al the gizmos in the dashboard were meant for. "Listen I've got to go, I start working in 30 minutes, I'll see you at dinner." Andy waved while leaving. "Yeah, I'll see you tonight, thanks again Andy." The young man turned the keys in the ignition and drove of to his first day of school.

As the young man drove to school he still couldn't believe that Andy gave him this car. There was allot he couldn't believe about his stay with Andy. He came from a normal sized family he had 2 brothers, him being the oldest. His mom was the only provider since his jerk of a father abandoned them when his youngest brother was born. Although they always had to watch their expenses, they never fell short of anything. So he needed some time to get used to Andy's wealth.

He stopped thinking about it, when he parked his car in front of Tree Hill high. He couldn't help to feel nervous. Because in every American high school movie or TV show he had seen, exchange students weren't exactly portrayed as being easily accepted by the other students. He took a deep breath and started walking towards the school.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Raven's material

"I should have gotten a student to do this" Whitey cursed to himself while he was trying to put up posters that said their would be basketball tryout's at the gym after school. When a poster yet again flew out of his hands, he was about to start a cursing frenzy when something caught his attention on the parking lot.

When he directed his full attention at the parking lot, he saw a black Mercedes had just parked. "If that's Dan Scott again complaining about Nathan's playing time I'm going to strangle him", he couldn't help but smile at the thought of him strangling Dan. He was surprised to see a 6.10 tall young man get out of the car. He checked five times if his door was locked before walking towards where Whitey was standing.

"Excuse me young man" Whitey said, "Are you new to the school?" The young man shyly nodded yes. "Well my name's Coach Durham and I'm of coach the basketball team here." He was glad to see the young man's face lighten up when he mentioned basketball. "Have you ever played basketball son?" Whitey asked. "Yes sir, I've played most of my life, but not in America, I'm an exchange student" replied the young man politely. "Where are you from?" Whitey asked intrigued. "I'm from Holland, sir".

"First off all stop with the sir crap, everybody call's me Whitey or if they want something coach Durham, what position did you play and what where your numbers?" "I've always played center, averaged about 17 points, 13 rebounds and 3 blocks, sir, I mean Whitey." "I'm having tryouts for the team after school, if you're interested you should stop by." As Whitey gave him one of his poster's.

"I will, thanks Whitey" the young man turned away and started walking down the hallway while he was looking at the poster.

His attention from the poster stopped when he felt something bump against him. As he looked away he saw that he had bumped against a girl causing for her to drop all of her stuff on the ground.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" As he helped the girl pick up everything of the floor. When he had grabbed some stuff together he looked up, only to look straight in the girls sparkling green eyes. For a moment his mind stopped, his heart stopped, every muscle in his body was paralyzed. He awoke from his trance when the girl started talking to him. "That's all right, everything's still intact. So are you new to the school? I've never seen you around here." He had to think about what he was going to say, he had never been good talking with girls especially when they where as beautiful as she was. "Uhm, yeah. Actually I'm new to the country." She looked at him with a puzzled look. "I'm an exchange student. I'm Dutch."

When he looked better at her he just got more nervous, even thought she was just wearing a leather jacket, a pair of jeans and a shirt of some band he didn't knew, to him she was just the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. "Well if you're new here you need to get to know some people, I'm Peyton." she said joyfully as she put her hand out. "Bart, nice to meet you Peyton." As he shook her hand and felt his face turn red. Peyton saw this and thought to herself how a guy his size could be so shy.

"So are you trying out for the basketball team" Peyton said pointing at the poster in his hand. "Yes I am, I used to play back home and thought it would be fun to play here too." Bart replied as he felt that he was starting to get his nerves under control. "Great, then we are going to see a lot of each other, I'm a cheerleader, but anyway I've got to go, I have a class in three minutes, it was nice meeting you and I'll see you at the gym, bye Bart!" "Uhm bye Peyton!"

As he just stood there watching Peyton walk away, he realized that he had to be at the principal's office 5 minutes ago.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Tree Hill High

"Okay so here's your schedule for the semester, I've arranged for a student to show you around and if there's anything wrong don't hesitate to come over and talk to me!" The principal said while smiling and exposing his pearl white teeth. "Thank you." Bart replied as he stood up to leave the office.

"Hi I'm Marvin McFadden, but everybody calls me Mouth." "Hey I'm Bart, nice to meet you Mouth" as they both shook hands. "So I'm supposed to show you around school, um, that should take about an hour, you can just go to your second class after our little tour. Let me first show you your locker which is going to be your home away from home or in your case your home away from home away from home, or something like that." Mouth said kind of confused about the remark he just made. " Ha-ha sounds great, lead the way."

"So have you already met someone here?" Mouth asked as they where going through the hallways. "Not really, you, Whitey who seemed nice, oh and a girl named Peyton" He couldn't help gazing in the air as he thought of Peyton's blond curl's and her beautiful eyes. "Yeah, she can have that effect on people." Bart gave Mouth a puzzled look. "I saw you drift of there for a bit when you mentioned her name." Mouth answered with a grin on his face. "Is it that obvious?" Bart replied as he felt his face turn a little red. "Uhuh!" Mouth replied trying to hold back his laugh.

"So are you trying out for the basketball team?" "Yeah how did you know that?" Bart asked. "It's not that difficult to figure out, you're 6.10, from what I can see in great shape and you've already talked to Whitey". "If you put it like that your right, I just hope I make the team, do you play?" "What me playing basketball, my scrawny ass would get killed out there." They both burst out in laughter. "But I do announce the games." "For like the radio or something?" Bart replied intrigued. "I wish" as Mouth rolled his eyes "No it's for a web cast, you can follow every Ravens' game live on the net." "That sounds really cool Mouth! Maybe if I don't make the team I could be your co-host or something?" "Trust me your getting on the team, the center position has been the only Raven's weak spot for years but if you don't for some strange out of this world reason get picked, sure you can be my co-host."

"That concludes our tour, any question's?" "Nope, you've been a great guide." Bart replied. "So what's your first class?" "Uh let me check, damn math." Bart already started to feel queasy at the thought of equations and mathematical theories. " Hehe, not a big math fan aye, I know what that feels like brother! I've got math too, follow me." Mouth said as he led Bart to the classroom.

Mouth liked Bart so far, he seemed nice. But he was still skeptical. Since Felix, he didn't really trust good looking new guys.

"Here we are classroom 1.02 where al your math dreams come true."

Lucas was already sitting at his desk ready for his second class, as where most of his fellow students. The mood was kind of down since nobody liked the first math class of the year except for Haley but she was weird when it came to school. Lucas had hidden himself in the back corner of the class so he could avoid as much conversation as possible. A strategy that wasn't working so far. Haley, Nathan and Skills had already said hi, together with the rest of the class. He didn't mind though since they weren't the reason he had hidden himself, that reason hadn't arrived yet and knowing it was math he knew that she wouldn't show up until the last minute.

She was Brooke Davis, it had already been 3 month's since she broke up with him because he didn't let her all the way in his heart. He had been down all summer and had successfully been able to avoid her the whole time but now that school was back, he knew he had to face the music.

Lucas looked at the door as it opened, he felt his heart rate raise but it fell again when he saw Mouth walk in followed by a guy who had to duck in his head to even get trough the door. He was staring at the guy in awe as did the rest of the class. The new guy looked at the ground and made his way towards the back and took a seat next to Lucas. After wrinkling himself on to a desk that was obviously too small. He looked at Lucas and put his hand out"Hi, I'm Bart." "Lucas" he simply replied as he shook Bart's hand. "Great more competition" he thought. Just as Mouth, Lucas wasn't very fond of new kids.

His thoughts where interrupted when the door opened again, this time it wasn't a false alarm as Brooke walked in followed by Peyton. Lucas just stared at Brooke, she stood there with the morning sun falling down on her summer tanned skin, she looked mind blowing. Lucas saw her gazing through the class room not once looking at him, her eyes stopped a while at the new guy sitting next to him. But to his relieve the guy was staring at Peyton, the same way he had just been staring at Brooke. His disappointment increased when he saw her take a seat all the way in front of the class, Peyton sat down behind her after shortly waving to him. He returned the favor.

As the door swung open again he saw that the math teacher had finally arrived. "Okay everybody settle down, time to get serious. I would like to welcome you all to a new year of math excitement" the teacher laughed at his own joke, the class was death silent accept for Haley who was grinning from ear to ear. She was so weird sometimes. "Now before we start, I would like to mention that we have a new student in our midst" as he looked at a small paper he was holding "uhm, Bart could you stand up please?" Lucas looked at Bart almost taking his whole desk down trying to stand up. When Bart finally freed himself he stood up, even making the teacher stare at him as well as the whole class again. "Uh, hi" Bart said with an unsteady voice.

"Bart I understand that you're an exchange student from Holland?" The teacher asked intrigued. "Yes sir, that's correct" Bart nervously replied. "Do you like math Bart?" "Uhm, I'm sorry sir but not really." The rest of the class grinned a bit at his statement except for Haley who gave him a look as if she didn't understand how somebody couldn't like math. "That's Okay, you can sit down now." Lucas couldn't help to laugh silently as he saw Bart trying to sit down again. "Now that's over we can begin, take your books out and turn to page one!"

As the bell rang Lucas grabbed his stuff together, he saw Brooke immediately leave the room and Nathan and Skillss were already talking to Bart. When he saw Nathan take a free throw with an imaginary ball he knew they where talking about Basketball. "Damn your brother's obsessed." Haley said to Lucas as he was standing up. He chuckled at his best friends' remark as they both left the class.

The rest of the day went on as any other day at Tree Hill High, except for people staring at Bart when he passed them by.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Tryouts for the heart

The cheer squad was stretching, meanwhile on the court more and more guys were shooting hoops trying to get ready for the tryouts. "Damn P. Sawyer that new guy's hot." Brooke said standing next to Peyton. "I guess." Peyton replied grinning a bit at her friend's remark. "I guess, I guess?! Common Peyton, he's 6.10 has a great body and beautiful eyes." "How do you know if he has beautiful eyes?" "I talked to him during lunch and it was kind of hard not to notice them." Brooke said with a smirk on her face.

As if he heard the two girls talking about him, Bart turned around and looked at the two girls. Without even thinking, Peyton waved to him gently. Bart blushed and waved back at her. Peyton couldn't help but to blush too.

"Oh my God, you like him don't you Peyton." Brooke said intrigued. "I don't know." Peyton replied shyly." Brooke gave her a disbelieving look. "Ok, so I like him and he is indeed unbelievably hot." Brooke screamed out a sound of excitement. "He likes you too Peyton, I can tell, did you see him blush after you waved at him." "I don't know Brooke, maybe I should take it easy." "Are you still not over the whole Jake thing, so you said I love you Lucas in your sleep, that means nothing. You just as well could have said; I love you Justin Timberlake!" "Brooke, Justin Timberlake?" " Well maybe not Justin but one of those rock band guys you like."

"It's just; I love Lucas, Brooke but like a brother. You know that. I confused that with romantic feelings at the beginning, which was just my mind playing tricks on me. It just hurt when Jake couldn't accept that." "I know Peyton." Brooke said trying to comfort her friend.

"By the way" Peyton said, trying to change the subject "what's up with you and Lucas? Even though you guys broke up there's still this weird vibe thing going on between you. "Honestly Peyton, I don't know. He's been avoiding me all summer and I've pretty much been doing the same." Brooke admitted. "The question is Brooke do you still have feelings for him?" "Off course I still have feelings for him but in all the time we were together I never knew for sure what he felt for me." "Still Brooke you guys should talk, there are clearly some unsolved issues between you two." "I know, I know" as Brooke turned around and got in her bitchy captain of the cheerleading squad mode, yelling at the new girls.

Right on cue Whitey blew his whistle meaning that basketball tryouts had officially begun.

"Peyton are you sure you don't need a ride home" Brooke asked compassionately as they stood on the parking lot. "No Brooke that won't be necessary my dad's picking me up after work." "All right, I'll see you tomorrow best friend and say hello to your cute father for me!"

After waiting for 30 minutes Peyton's dad still hadn't shown up, when she got a phone call.

"Hey dad, where are you? What you can't make it? No, its ok I'll see you at home." She hung up her cell phone. "Damn now I have to walk home!" She grunted to herself.

"Hey Peyton, what are you still doing here?" She turned around and saw Bart standing in front of her. "Oh hi, I was waiting for my dad to pick me up but he got caught up at work. Why are you still here?" Peyton asked with a sarcastic tone. "Well first I had to shower and after that Whitey wanted to talk to me about the responsibilities of a student athlete." "Which are?" Peyton asked skeptically, after dating Nathan in the past, she thought that jocks didn't really have that many responsibilities. "Keeping my grades up, showing up for classes and practice, stuff like that."Bart replied. "So you made the team?" "I don't know Whitey was really vague about that, I hope I did! Anyway I could give you a ride if you want?" Bart said hopefully anticipating her answer. "That would be great." Peyton replied. When she said those words Bart felt his heart rate raise. "Ok, my car's over there follow me."

"You've got to be kidding me, this is your ride?!" Peyton said in awe as they approached Bart's car. "Yeah it was a gift from my host parent, get in!" Peyton gladly accepted his offer and got in to the car. When she sat down she couldn't help to start laughing. "What's wrong?" Bart asked embarrassed. Only to see Peyton pointing at the mirror from which fuzzy dice were dangling. "Those are so wrong for this car!" Peyton said in between laughs. "What? I thought they looked cool, they show that the driver has a sense of humor!" Bart replied as he turned his key. "Well they made me laugh, so I guess your theory checks out." Bart felt a grin form on his face as he pulled out of the parking lot.

"Peyton I forgot to tell you, I promised my host I'd pick up some coffee for him. Apparently the espresso machine standing at home isn't good enough. So is there a Starbucks or something around here?" "Well there's Karen's café, it's cheaper and has way better coffee then any Starbucks." Peyton said while she was trying to figure out how to get the radio going. "Ok but you have to give me directions since I don't know my way around town yet." Bart replied as he handed Peyton a manual for the radio with a grin on his face. "Thanks, it's easy just take the second to the left and then the second to the right and then it's about 2 minutes down the street. Now leave me alone so I can get you some music, driving sucks without music." As she opened the manual. "Depends on who you're driving with." Bart couldn't believe that he had just said that. "You know what, your right." Peyton replied, putting the manual away and blushing a bit, she noticed that he was blushing too.

After talking for a while they arrived at Karen's Café. "Care to join me milady?" Bart said taking his keys out of the ignition. "I accept, dear gent." They both laughed and got out of the car.

"Hey Karen." "Oh, hey Peyton, who's your friend?" Karen asked as she saw a tall young man standing next to Peyton. "Sorry, Karen - Bart, Bart – Karen, Lucas's mom." "Nice to meet you Mrs. Scott." Bart said politely. Karen and Peyton both chuckled. Bart stood there confused as he saw both women laugh. "I'm sorry Bart, you couldn't know, me and Lucas's father aren't together anymore, just call me Karen!"

"So what did your host wanted you to pick up." Peyton asked Bart. "Andy said something about a cappuccino with extra foam. "You're staying with Andy, Andy Hargrove?" Karen asked. Bart nodded. "Hm, how's he doing?" "Fine, and he's been really nice, made me feel right at home." Bart answered sincerely. "Tell him I said hi." "Sure." Bart replied. "Mental note, make sure to ask Andy how he knows Karen." Bart thought to himself while paying Karen. They both said Bye to Karen and left the café.

Peyton unbuckled her seatbelt when they drove up her driveway. "Thanks for the ride Bart." "Anytime Peyton." Peyton walked towards her front door until she heard Bart shout out of the car window. "Peyton I've got to ask you something, Whitey's posting the name's of the players who made the team outside of the gym on Friday. Would you mind going with me to check if my name's on it? For moral support! "Sure I'll go with you." She saw him smile. "Thanks Peyton" he said as he turned the car radio on. "I thought you didn't know how your radio worked?" "I never said that, but it was cute to see you fondling with the buttons." Bart replied teasingly and pulling out of her drive way. He waved to her and drove off.

Peyton walked trough her front door, as soon as it shut behind her. She felt like butterflies where about to burst open her stomach. It was a feeling she had never felt before, not even with Jake. She smiled and hopped up the stairs to her room.

"Hey P. Sawyer you look happy." Brooke said with a smile on her face as she saw Peyton hop into her room. "Brooke, what are you doing here?" Peyton asked surprised and embarrassed "Well your hot dad called, telling me that he couldn't pick you up, he asked me if I could go and get you. When I arrived at school you where gone, so I decided to check your house but on the way over here I saw you walk into Karen's café with that hot foreign guy. I decided to wait here so I could get all the juicy details." Brooke was now grinning from ear to ear anxiously awaiting her friend's response. Peyton knew that she couldn't fool Brooke so she decided to tell everything that had happened.

"And that's pretty much it" Peyton said with her head still in the clouds "Brooke he was just so nice and funny, I think I'm falling in love!" Peyton shyly admitted. "Peyton that's great, I'm so happy for you." The girls hugged. "You know what this means don't you?" "No, what?" Peyton asked. "I've got to arrange you guys for a real date!" Brooke said with an almost psycho obsessed smile on her face. Peyton sighted, she knew that there was nothing she could say to change Brooke's mind.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Taking risks

Brooke was walking trough the school hallways on a mission. She had to talk to Lucas today and she wasn't stopping until she found him. She arrived at his locker, to her relief he was there. She felt her hands get sweaty when she approached him.

"Hi!" her heart was about to explode. Lucas's turned away from his locker looked at her trying to hide that he was excited to see her. "Brooke" he nodded and turned back to face his locker. "How have you been?" Brooke asked, her nerves where killing her. "Fine" Lucas said coolly. "Excited about the upcoming basketball season?" Brooke said with a smile on her face. "What do you want Brooke?" Brooke was shocked to hear him talk so bluntly to her. "Well I was hoping to talk about us." "There is no us anymore Brooke you made that perfectly clear." Brooke could hear the pain in his voice. "Just leave me alone." "You know what Lucas fine; I'll leave you alone I just can't believe that even when were not together you won't tell me what you feel." Lucas felt a small tear run down his face. Brooke took one last look at his back and stormed off. When she turned around the first corner she couldn't fight of her tears anymore.

"Great Lucas, you've drove her away again. Why couldn't you just tell her that you've missed her all summer long and could only think about her in your arms. That you missed her sweet kiss, the smell of coconut coming from her hair. That you still love her. Why couldn't you just tell her that? No you had to be a stubborn ass. Like always!" Lucas thought to himself, still crying with his face in his locker. "I've got to talk to her, tell her what I really feel, she wanted to talk about us that's a good sign right?" He encouraged himself. He wiped his face and went to his first class of the day.

Bevin walked into the girls' bathroom. She was shocked to find Brooke crying. "Brooke, what's wrong?" Brooke said nothing and just hugged Bevin. "Brooke stop crying, tell me what's wrong?" "Lucas" Brooke heart achingly said and started to cry even harder. "What about Lucas?" Bevin was really concerned about her friend she knew that Brooke was still hurting over Lucas. Brooke calmed down "I went over to him, to talk about us and he just blew me of. His voice was just so cold Bevin. I don't know what to do, I still love him can't he see that it's hard for me too." "Shush. Brooke the reason that he was so cold is clearly that he isn't over you. He's hurting and he took it out on you in a wrong way. Give him time he'll turn around." Bevin compassionately said as she stroked Brooke's back. "Now common otherwise we're going to be late for class." Brooke nodded in agreement and dried her tears. "Thanks Bevin." "No problem!"

Peyton was waiting in front of the gym. She couldn't believe how nervous she was to see Bart again. She felt her heart beating faster when she saw him approach her.

"Hey Peyton." Peyton hit him on the shoulder, she almost had to jump to reach it. "That's for not telling me that you knew how your radio worked!" She said, with a smile on her face. Bart started laughing. "So were even now?" "Yeah sure, you're of the hook. Now let's check if you made the team, you ready?" "Yeah I am, let's get this over with!"

They reached the bulletin board and started to look through the names. "There I am I can't believe it, I made the team!" Bart shouted as he took Peyton into a hug. He didn't even realize that he was hugging her until after a few seconds. He gently let her go and placed his hands on her hips. They were looking in each other's eyes. He moved his lips slowly towards hers. She closed her eyes as he moved closer to his lips.

"Hey B, did you make the team man?!" They both suddenly let go and looked nervously at each other. They saw Nathan coming towards them followed by Haley who obviously was not happy about her husband's behavior. "Did you make the team?" Nathan asked again. Clearly not aware of what had just happened between Bart and Peyton. "Uh yeah, I did." Bart replied not fully recovered from Nathan's rude interruption. Haley had finally caught up with Nathan and immediately gave him an elbow in his side. "Oh, sorry Hales, this is Bart, Bart this is my wife Haley." Haley rolled her eyes at her husband and couldn't believe how clueless he was. She smiled at Bart and shook his hands. Nathan interrupted the greeting. "I knew Whitey was going to pick you, you were the best of all those new guys." He pulled Bart away from the girls to talk more about basketball.

"Peyton I'm so sorry." Haley whispered. "It's Okay Hales." Peyton reassured her, still looking at Bart. He was also looking at her while nodding at what Nathan said. "You know how Nathan is when it involves basketball." "It's ok Hales, really." Haley smiled "so what's going on? I saw you two have a moment there, to only have it spoiled by my idiot of a husband." "Well Mrs. Scott if you must know, I met him the first day of school. He accidentally bumped my books out of my arms." Haley looked at her amused. "What? I know it's cheesy but anyway after the basketball tryouts he gave me a ride home and we really connected…" Haley looked at her friend as she continued her story and she noticed that there was something differed about Peyton. She had never seen her talk about a guy that way not even about Jake.

"I'm glad for you Peyton, I really am!" "Nathan, we need to go!" Haley shouted, winking at Peyton. "Thank you." Peyton whispered. Nathan followed her down the hallway. Only to be yelled at by his wife.

"That was awkward." Bart said to Peyton. Peyton nodded as she saw Haley still yelling at Nathan.

"I wanted to ask you something." Peyton said while Bart directed his attention from Nathan and Haley to Peyton's beautiful green eyes. "There's this 'Good luck in senior year' party at Tric tonight and I was wondering if you would want to go with me?" Bart looked into Peyton's eyes and said "Off course I'll go with you." As he smiled at her. "Great I'll call you tonight for the details." "Sounds perfect!" He replied. Peyton blushed, gave him a quick kiss on his cheek and went to her class.

Bart stood frozen solid as he looked at her walk away. He touched his cheek, jumped a little in the air of excitement and went on to his class.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Time heals or forgets

Bart couldn't believe how well his stay in America was going. He had already made some friends, Andy was great and tonight he had a date with the girl who had made him believe in love at first sight. He tied his shoes as he got ready for his first basketball practice as a Tree Hill Raven.

"Ready for your first practice, B?" Nathan asked his new team mate. "I was born ready!" "Oh, nice 90's Reference!" they both laughed. "I thought you would appreciate that one. How about this ; you were so occupied with if you could, that you didn't think about if you should." "I don't know that one." "Nate come on, Jurassic park. The greatest movie ever made!" "Okay, normally when people say 'the greatest movie ever made' their talking about The Godfather, Pulp Fiction, West side story or something like that, you Jurassic park." Nathan looked at Bart amused. "That's because it's **The greatest movie ever made!**" "Sure whatever you say man." Nathan replied sarcastically.

Even though the young men's relationship had only contained of talking about sports, cars, old school hip hop and kicking his ass in NBA Live. Bart considered Nathan already a good friend.

"Now let's get in the gym before Whitey makes us run suicides." Both young men had only just entered the gym when Whitey blew his whistle.

The girl's cheer practice had just ended. Peyton, Brooke and Haley were sitting on the bleachers. Recuperating from practice and watching the basketball team which was really getting a hard time from Whitey.

"So have you talked to Lucas yet?" "Yes I have Peyton and it wasn't pretty, he didn't even look at me and the worst part was that I could see that he was hurting but as usual he was to stubborn to admit it." "Typical Lucas behavior, give him some time he'll turn around." "I hope your right Hales" Brooke looked at Lucas run sprints "I hope your right!"

"Okay different topic, I totally saw Peyton and Bart have a moment this morning!" "What? Spill P. Sawyer." Brooke said, while squealing in excitement. "Well, Monday I promised that I would check with him if he made the team. After he saw his name on the sheet he hugged me and he didn't let go, I was looking in his beautiful blue eyes. I still don't know why but I felled really save in his arms, it just felt good. It was perfect. I saw him move his lips towards mine. So I closed my eyes and did the same and then…" Peyton paused. "And then?!" Brooke asked. "And then Haley's idiot of a husband yelled at us about basketball and totally ruined the moment." Brooke immediately gave Haley a glare of death. "I said I was sorry and she was lucky I was there or those two would have still been talking about basketball. Like it or not Peyton those two are becoming friends." "I know Hales and it's not your fault, anyway after Mr. and Mrs. Scott had left I asked if he wanted to go to Tric tonight. He accepted and that's pretty much it."

Both Haley and Brooke were really happy for Peyton. They knew that it had taken her a long time to get over Jake.

The girls saw that the boy's had left the gym during their conversation so they decided to do the same.

"My legs are killing me!" Bart whined "I thought that Whitey was this sweet old southern gent when I met him." "Trust me dog, that was nothing. Wait until there's a game in the weekend." Skills said as the rest of the team nodded in agreement.

"Are you going to this party at Tric tonight Bart?" Lucas asked, at first he hadn't trusted Bart but as time went by the big lug had grown on him. "Yeah, Peyton asked if I wanted to go with her and I gladly accepted." "Oh you're going with Blondie, surprised to see her date a person without Scott in his last name." Skills was looking at Nathan and Lucas with a big grin on his face. "Ouch Skills, that's below the belt!" Lucas replied. Bart couldn't follow anymore and apparently was showing it as Lucas told him that he and Nathan had dated Peyton. "Don't listen to these two morons B, Peyton's a great girl. Just have fun tonight." "I will Nate, thanks."

"Bart could I ask you something embarrassing?" Nathan and Bart were the only two standing on the parking lot. "Sure Nate. Shoot!" "Well I told Haley that she could go home after cheer practice and that I would catch a ride with Luke. But he already left." "Sure I'll give you a ride, no problem." Bart interrupted. "Great!" Both young men got into Bart's car. After listening to Nathan mock his fuzzy dice, Bart drove of.

Bart was having dinner with Andy. "Andy I forgot to tell you, when I picked up your coffee Monday, Karen told me to say hi." "Did she?" "Yes, how do you know her if you don't mind me asking?" "I don't mind, when seven years ago, I moved to Tree Hill. We dated for a while but it didn't work out. A year later I met Catherine and I haven't talked to her since. Accept for the actionable hi when I picked up coffee at her place." The men ate in silence for a while.

"So you ready for your big date?" Andy asked. "Not really, I just want everything to go right. I know it's a little weird since I've only known her for 4 day's but she already means allot to me." "That's not weird Bart, that's called love at first sight." "Speak of the Devil." As Bart's cell was ringing, he excused himself to Andy.

"Hey Peyton." Bart's excitement grew when he heard her talk trough the phone. "Sure I'll pick you up, shall we say 9? All right see you then." He hung up his phone, helped Andy clean the table and went to his room to get ready.

Lucas was nervously waiting in front of the door he had just knocked. "Lucas what are you doing here?" Brooke asked, shocked to see Lucas. "Brooke I haven't been honest to you, when you came to talk to me this morning at my locker I was an ass and what I wanted to tell was that I have missed you all summer long. That since you've broken up with me I have felt like something was missing in my life, there was this big void. After a while I realized what was missing, it was my heart Brooke! You have had it with you all summer long. I know where I was wrong and I was hoping if you could give me another chance. Brooke Davis will you be my date tonight?" He pulled a single white rose from behind his back and handed it to her. Brooke took his rose, not being able to hold her tears of happiness back. She looked him in the eyes "Lucas Scott, I will be your date tonight!" Brooke hugged Lucas, Lucas was crying to. "But we have to take it easy you know, every time we get together and rush into things. Well we both know how that ends." Brooke said, Lucas nodded and embraced her again, smiling from ear to ear.

Bart was waiting for Peyton as she walked towards his car. She was wearing a green dress matching her eyes with an open back, the bottom just below her knees. Bart was frozen in his seat. She opened the door and got in. Bart was still staring at her not being able to speak. "What?" "Nothing it's just that you look so beautiful." "Thank you, you clean up nice too." Peyton teasingly said. "Thanks I guess, oh I almost forgot. I've got you something." Bart leaned over her lap and took something out of the glove compartment. "What's this?" Peyton accepted the gift blushing and unwrapped it, to find a CD with the greatest hip hop hits on it. Bart saw her looking at the cover. "When I dropped you of here Monday, the first song on the radio was the Sugarhill gang with Rapper's delight, this was the only CD that had that song on it." "I know this is great Bart! Thank you!" She gave him a kiss on the cheek. Bart popped it in the CD player and drove off. Both singing along with the songs.

Nathan and Haley had just entered Tric. They saw Peyton and Bart already go at it on the dance floor. They both laughed, Bart was a terrible dancer but he seemed to enjoy himself. "That guy's crazy." "Oh Nathan you are in no position to judge. I've seen you dance and believe me compared to you he's the best dancer in the world!" Haley laughed. "You know what's worst Hales? You have to dance with me!" As he dragged her on the dance floor and started doing 'the robot'. Haley busted out in laughter when she saw her husband make a complete idiot out of himself but to her surprise it caught on and soon everybody on the floor was doing 'the robot'. "Copycats!" Nathan grunted as he took Haley in his arms. "Baby I know you're the original!" Nathan laughed and pulled her in for a passionate kiss.

They had just let go of each other when Bart and Peyton approached them. "Hey Nate, Haley." Bart shouted over the music. Both couples greeted each other. "I was going to the Bar, you guys want something?" "Sure." They both replied. "I'll help you carry." Nathan offered as the boys went over to the bar.

"So how's the 'big date' going?" Nathan asked. "Great man, I'm having a blast and Peyton's just amazing." "Yeah, do you like feel something for her? I've seen the way you look at her. I'm not that clueless!" "At the risk of sounding unmanly. Yes I do have feelings for her, strong feelings! It's when I'm with her everything else doesn't matter. Everything is just perfect." "I know what you mean B, Haley makes me feel the same way and love is never unmanly." Nathan gently hit him on the shoulder and took the drinks for the girls.

"Here you go ladies." "To bad we can't get you guys drunk." Nathan joked. Quickly feeling Haley's elbow hitting his side.

Brooke and Lucas had spent the whole evening tucked away in a corner. They had seen Nathan and Bart make asses of themselves on the dance floor. But they didn't really care. Tonight was about them. They could talk with their friends later. "Brooke I'm so happy that you wanted to go with me tonight." "And I'm happy that you've asked me." They spend the rest of the night sitting there. Talking and looking in each other's eyes.

After dancing the night away Bart drove onto Peyton's driveway. He turned his car of and got out to walk Peyton to the door. "I've had a great time Bart." She took his hand into hers to walk the last couple of steps. "Me too!" He looked at her hand which perfectly fit into his. They approached the front door and faced each other. She moved closer and put her head on his chest "we have to do this again" while she felt his chest rise with every breath he took. He lifted her head so he could look into her beautiful eyes. "I'd like that" as he put his hand on her cheek and slowly moved his head closer to hers. When their lips met each other. They felt as if the world had stopped turning. He gently opened his mouth and was glad to feel her do the same. As their tongues intertwined with each other. She pulled away gasping for air. "I should get inside." Bart nodded as she gave him a quick kiss on the lips. "Bye" "Goodnight Peyton." Bart was still trying to gather his thoughts. He danced his way towards the car and pulled out of her driveway.

Peyton walked up the stairs as if she was walking on clouds. She entered her room and switched the light on, almost having a heart attack seeing a figure sit on her bed. "Hello Peyton. How have you been?"

Bart had been driving for five minutes, he turned his car radio on. When the sugarhill gang came busting out of his speakers, he realized that Peyton had forgotten her CD. He made a turn, back in Peyton's direction.

"Hello Peyton. How have you been?"

"Jake, what are you doing here?" she looked at Jake and still couldn't believe that he was in her room. "Peyton I need to talk to you." Jake looked at the floor trying to gather the courage to continue. "I still love you Peyton, I was wrong to break up with you over something you said in your sleep. I've realized that I need you. I can't live without you."

Peyton looked at Jake, tears ran down her face. "Jake I can't do this anymore, I loved you and that you had to leave for Jenny was the right thing to do and I don't blame you for that but it hurt, it hurt allot. Then we seem to be happy again and you sent me away for something stupid as talking in my sleep. I've spend the last months crying. I finally got everything together and I don't want to risk that. What I'm trying to say is that I've moved on and I hope you can do the same."

"Peyton you forgot your CD." Bart walked in and saw Peyton and Jake, both were crying now. "Peyton are you okay?" She nodded. "What's going on?" "Jake looked at Bart and the way he was looking at Peyton and the way she was looking at him. "Uhm, nothing. I was about to leave. I'm sorry Peyton." He walked out of the room heartbroken. From the moment he saw her look at Bart, he knew that she had moved on. She had never looked at him like that. He realized that it really was over, he felt tears run down his face.

"Are you okay?" Bart asked, really worried about Peyton. "I'm fine. That was Jake my ex boyfriend. He just needed to get closure." "Do you still need closure?" Bart asked worried that the girl that already meant so much to him would leave. "No, it's just seeing him brought up allot of old emotions." Peyton wiped the tears from her face. Bart took her in his arms. "Bart, could you spend the night here? I don't want to be alone tonight." "Sure I'll stay, but I'm sleeping on the floor. I don't want to get shot by your dad when he sees me lying in your bed."

Bart was glad to hear her sweet laugh again.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Meet Dan Scott.

Several weeks have passed since Peyton's encounter with Jake and according to some rumors Jake was dating again. As for Bart and Peyton, they are still together and going strong. Brooke and Lucas are taking it slow. Lucas had really opened up to Brooke and both are happy. Nathan and Haley, what's there to say? There Nathan and Haley! Still madly in love and happily married.

Lucas and Brooke were sitting on the couch watching a movie. It was a sad movie and Brooke had been crying ever since they popped it in. She had her head on his lap while he stroked her hair trying to comfort her. Lucas had been staring in the air through out the whole movie. "That's so sad, I can't believe he did that to her. If you ever do that to me Lucas Scott, you better make out your will!" Brooke said, turning her head facing Lucas. "I'm sorry, what?" he replied as if he had just woken up from a bad dream. "Lucas, is there something wrong?" "It's nothing big, I'm just nervous for tonight. First game of the season." "What do you mean nervous? It's not like you've never played a basketball game before." "I know Brooke, I don't know why. I think it has something to do with being a senior you know. More responsibilities, last chance to win it all." "I'm sure you guys will do fine, it's the best Ravens team in a decade." "I guess your right. But hey I know one thing and that's that we have the hottest cheer squad in the league with a captain that has no one even come close to her greatness and beauty!" He looked at Brooke with a grin on his face and before he even realized it, she was kissing him.

After their lips unlocked grip with each other Lucas continued. "I can't help but to worry about Bart. He gets nervous over the dumbest things, right now he's nerves must be killing him." "Hm, he doesn't look like the nervous type to me." "That's because most of the times you talk to him Peyton's with him. He's a different guy when he's with her. She makes him feel comfortable, at ease." "Well then you have nothing to worry about. Peyton told me that the both of them were going to play miniature golf this afternoon. So he's going to be with Peyton all day and will be fine." "I don't know Brooke." "Lucas it's nice that you're worried about your friend but he'll be fine trust me."

He nods and then starts laughing. "What?" Brooke asked, crooking her eyebrow at her boyfriend. "Nothing but miniature golf? Those two are such geeks!" "Hey you watch it mister, I happen to like miniature golf." Pouting her lips. "I'm more of a bowling type of guy." He starts to tickle Brooke "What do you say pretty girl want to go bowling with me?" "No bowling is stupid." She teased him only making him tickle her harder. "Okay, okay I'll go!" Lucas smiles and kissed her on the forehead.

"I totally kicked your ass!" Peyton teasingly said to Bart as they got into her car. "That's not fair, there was a bird in that tree and it kept looking weird at me." "Babe what are you talking about?" "That Raven in the tree. It kept looking at me. I'm telling you Peyton it's a sign!" "Bart would you stop worrying, you're one of the best players on the team." "Nope that bird was telling me something!" Bart was smiling. "You jerk, you just don't want to admit that you've lost." "It was the bird I'm telling you!" Bart busted out in laughter. "You're just like a kid." Peyton pouted. "Oh, hunny I love you to!" Bart said jokingly as he kissed her pouting lips. "Wait did you just said you loved me?" Peyton was dead serious now. Bart nodded with a big grin on his face. "I love you too!" Peyton started to blush and tried to kiss him. "Wait! Pout your lips again. I like that look on you!" Bart said with a grin, Peyton obeyed and then he kissed her.

"So do you want to grab something to eat?" Peyton asked while they drove to her house. "No!" Peyton looked shocked at Bart. "I never eat dinner before a game, its bad luck." "What? You never eat before a game, won't you collapse or something? "Nope, at breakfast 2 bagels and a glass of orange juice. Lunch, a salad and 2 glasses of water and then right after the game something nice and greasy like hamburgers or something. I've been doing that for 6 years and it works!" "Right and you also believe in unicorns and leprechauns." Peyton teasingly said. "Don't joke about that, Blondie!" Bart stuck his tongue out to Peyton. "You're so hot when you're angry!" Peyton teased him. Bart couldn't help himself and started laughing.

The Tree Hill Ravens were sitting in the locker room. Whitey was walking up and down. Bart saw that Nathan was imitating every word that Whitey was saying. Apparently Whitey did allot of the same speeches. "All right now go out there and give them hell!" Whitey concluded. "Bart, could I talk to you." Meanwhile the rest of the team continued there warm ups. "Sure coach, what's up?" "I'm going to put you in my starting line up. Do you think you're ready for that?" "I am coach. I won't let you or the team down!" "Right answer son. Now go and warm up." Bart ran out to the court and joined the team again.

"What was that about?" Nathan asked. "Coach just said I'm in the starting line up." "All right! You'll do great B." "Thanks man, are these guys any competition?" "Not really, but they do play dirty so watch yourself." Nathan advised him.

"Welcome everybody to the opening game of the season. I'm Mouth McFadden coming to you live from Tree Hill High. There's one change in the Ravens' starting line up this year. At center with number 14 is playing Bart Vanhooi, hope I pronounced that correctly."

"And here comes the tip of. The Ravens get it and start there first offence of the season. Nathan Scott has the ball, passes it to Vanhooi. He goes trough the middle. Oh, he slam-dunks it! The crowd's going wild."

"There you have it folks. The Ravens first win of the season. Final score 46-72. Top scorers Nathan Scott: 23, Lucas Scott: 15. But all the attention goes to the Ravens' newest addition Bart _the Flying Dutchman _Vanhooi. With 21points, 12 rebounds and 4 blocks, player of the game. If you ask me the Ravens are serious contenders for the State title this year. I'm Mouth McFadden, see you next week!"

"That was a great game you played." "Thank you Mr.?" Bart asked a man in his mid thirties with black hair. "Scott, Dan Scott." "Oh your Nathan and Lucas' dad, right?" Bart tried to shake Dan's hand. "I'm Nathan's dad." Dan coldly replied, denying Bart's friendly gesture. Bart looked confused at Dan "I thought they were brothers?" "I supplied the cells to produce Lucas but that's all." Dan was obviously getting annoyed. "Lucas doesn't matter I'm here to talk about Nathan." "What about Nathan?" Bart asked angry. He realized that he overreacted but he knew from own experience how it feels to have a father who's never there. Allot of old emotions were recurring.

"I want you to hold back at games." Bart gave Dan a puzzled look. "Nathan's only shot at college is a scholarship and I won't have some foreign kid ruing it for him." "So you want me to throw games?" "Not throw games idiot, not giving 100 making Nathan the star." Bart started laughing. "I'm not going to do that! I won't let my team or Whitey down and I'm pretty sure that Nathan wants me to give myself completely and Nathan **is** the star of the team!" "How dare you define me, you don't know what I'm capable of do you?" Dan was getting angry. He couldn't believe how arrogant this kid was being to him, Dan Scott! All I know is that you're an ass of a father who leaves his kid. That's not very respect worthy Mr. Scott." Bart felt that he was getting angrier and angrier. "Now if you will excuse me my girlfriend's waiting for me" Bart walked away.

"Oh yeah Peyton. I think she's slept with half of the Ravens!" Dan shouted at him. Bart turned around and walked back in his direction. "What did you say?!" He angrily yelled. Ready to hit Dan. Suddenly Lucas jumped in front of him. Apparently he had overheard the whole conversation. "Common Bart, he's not worth it." Bart cooled down and listened to his friend. "Hi son. How've you been?" "Shut up Dan!" Lucas replied bitter. The boys walked away still hearing Dan's sinister laugh behind them.

"I don't know how you deal with that?" Bart asked Lucas. "Believe it or not I'm the lucky one. Nathan was the biggest jerk you could have imagined. Before he met Haley. "Yeah but still Luke. My dad bailed on me and my brothers too but I don't know where he is. Living in the same town, I don't know if I could handle that." "I didn't know that your dad left you." Lucas was feeling Bart's pain even though Dan's a jerk. It still hurt knowing that he didn't want him. "I haven't told anybody except Peyton. It's something I don't really like to talk about." "I understand man, just that you know. If you want to talk, don't be embarrassed okay?" "Thanks Luke, ditto!" The guys got to Bart's car and saw Peyton and Brooke approach them.

"I'll take the brunette you get the blonde." Bart said, Lucas laughed. "Sure, fine by me." They both busted out in laughter. "Now what are you two laughing about?" Brooke asked crossing her arms. "Nothing, just deciding who were going to hit on." Lucas replied in between laughs. The girls didn't even want to dignify that with an answer.

"Ready for your burgers?" Peyton asked Bart. He nodded. "Do you guys want to come with us?" she asked Brooke and Lucas. "Sure." they both replied. They all got into Bart's car. "Why does nobody like my fuzzy dice?" Bart whined as he heard laughter come from behind him.

"4 double cheeseburgers, fries and a large chocolate milkshake, please." Bart ordered. "Are you really going to eat all that?" Brooke asked. Peyton rolled her eyes when she heard Bart tell his whole eating ritual story again.

"So are you both coming to this party tonight?" Brooke asked with a girlish enthusiasm. Both Bart and Peyton nodded. "Spin the bottle!" I'm spinning for you foreign hunk." "I can't wait." Bart told Brooke, taking a bite out of his cheeseburger. Almost choking when he saw the look Peyton was giving him.

"Hey the Scott boys." Bart shouted going through the crowd. He took both of them in a hug and kissed Nathan on the cheek. "Dude what the hell?!" Nathan wiped his cheek. "Nate, where's the love?" Bart sat down on a couch. Peyton joined the boys. "Peyton is he drunk?" Nathan was still trying to clean his cheek. "A little, we were playing 'I've never' and apparently they're very open-minded in Holland." "Hey, I can't help it you guys are squares." Bart interrupted. "Make sure he stays out of trouble, okay." "Oh, he will be fine. He's just spreading the love." Peyton replied laughing when she saw Bart take Mouth in a hug.

Peyton sat down on Bart's lap. "Hey baby, I just totally kissed basketball superstar Nathan Scott." He whispered in her ear. "Really? You're so lucky!" She played along. "It's true! You're not jealous are you?" "How can I not be he's so hot." "Hotter then me?" He pouted his lower lip. Peyton smiled. "No not hotter then you!" As she kissed him.

"Nate, I've got to talk to you." Lucas met with Nathan in the backyard. "About?" Nathan replied. "Dan!" "What did he do?" Nathan sighed. "I heard him talk to Bart after the game. He wanted Bart to play worst so you would have more chance at a scholarship. Bart laughed his offer away and then Dan basically called Peyton a slut. I think he was lucky I intervened because Bart was ready to knock his teeth out for that." "You should have let him. We both know Dan deserves it." Nathan replied bitter. "Hey, if anybody gets to hit Dan it should be us!" Both boys stared in the air.

"I'm going to find Brooke." Lucas broke the silence. "I'm going to stay here. Haley and Skills were laughing at me for Bart kissing me." Lucas laughed "that was pretty funny!" "That's going to haunt me forever isn't it?" Lucas nodded and left his brother to find Brooke.

"Hey hot stuff. I have a girlfriend but for you I'll make an exception." Brooke turned around and saw Lucas with a big grin on his face. "What a coincidence. I have a boyfriend but I will forget about that for you." Brooke replied while Lucas put his arms around her waste. Lucas looked deep into her eyes "I love you Brooke Davis." Brooke smiled "I love you too Lucas Scott." He smiled and kissed her.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Darkness

"Ow, my head." Bart moaned. "Good morning sunshine!" Peyton slammed down next to him on the couch. "Coffee?" She cheerfully asked. "Is that like code for water with lots of aspirin?" Bart felt his head pounding when he tried to sit up. "No it's just coffee." "I'll pass then." He looked embarrassed at Peyton. "Did I really kiss Nathan on the cheek or was that a weird dream I had?" "No, that was real. But don't worry he enjoyed it!" She teased. Bart laughed. "I'm sure he did." He laid his head on her lap. Peyton turned the TV on. "Roadrunner, I love roadrunner." Bart childishly said. "Me too." Peyton replied as she stroked through his hair.

"Peyton are you home?!" Brooke came into the living room. "Please Brooke, fix the volume." Bart rubbed his temples. "Oh you're still here? I thought you were with Nathan now?!" Brooke replied with a smile on her face. "Jealous, B. Davis?" Bart sarcastically said. "Please, I'm perfectly happy with my Scott boy!"

"So why do you honor us with your presence Brooke?" "Just thought I would stop by to say hi to my best friend but if you guys are busy. I can leave." "No, no stay Brooke. I should be getting home to Andy anyway." Bart put his shoe's and shirt back on and kissed Peyton passionately. "I'll call you okay." He made his way to the door. "Bye hot stuff." Brooke shouted behind his back. "He-he, see you later Brooke!"

Bart was halfway to Andy's when he saw a car with smoke coming out of the hood on the side of the road. He put his car behind the other car and got out to see if anybody was hurt. When he was at the driver's seat, he saw a man with his head on the steering wheel. He ran back to his car and grabbed his phone. "911 emergencies how may I help you?" "Yes hello, I just found a car on the side of the road and the driver looks hurt." "What's your position sir?" "I don't know the name of the street. I'm new to this town. Can't you trace my call or something?" "Yes sir, stay on the line please." "Okay" At that moment Bart felt something hit the back of his head and he passed out.

"Excuse me Brooke." Peyton picked up the phone. "Hello, Oh hey Andy! No he left about 2 hours ago. Why? What?!" Peyton hung up the phone death pale.

"Peyton what's wrong?" "That was Andy apparently Bart still isn't home. He thinks something happened to him." "Peyton he's probably shooting some hoops at the river court and forgot to tell Andy about it. I'll call Lucas." "I'm calling Nathan." Peyton dialed Nathan's number.

"Nathan says he hasn't seen Bart since the party." "So did Lucas." Peyton started to cry. "I hope he's all right." Brooke hugged her friend trying to comfort her.

Nathan and Haley met with Lucas at Karen's Café. "Hey Luke." Haley hugged him. Nathan just shook his hand. "So have you heard about Bart?" Nathan said straight to the point. "Yeah it's crazy, you don't think that?" Lucas said. "No, he wouldn't do that." Nathan interrupted him. "What are you guys talking about?" Haley was clearly not following. "Yesterday after the game my dad talked to Bart about playing worst at games so I would have more chance at a scholarship." "No, your dad's a jerk but kidnapping someone. I don't think he would do that." "I hope your right Hales. Just to be safe I'll talk to Dan when I get home."

Bart woke up in a strange room. He was tied to a chair and his head was killing him. "What's going on, where am I?" Bart asked confused..

"I warned you didn't I? But you had to take the hard way!" Bart recognized the voice he was hearing. "Mr. Scott is that you?" Bart heard clapping come from behind him. "You catch on quick." Dan was now standing in front of him. "What are you doing Mr. Scott? Is this still about Nathan's scholarship?" Dan started clapping again and smiled at his prisoner. "This isn't going to work you know. You can't hold me here forever!" "Oh but I don't intend to keep you here. No I got something different in mind for you. First I'm going to beat you for a while. Why you ask? Just for my enjoyment. Then I'm going to cut your feet off. So if you survive you will never play basketball again." Dan sinisterly grinned and started beating Bart's face.

"Dad, are you home?" Nathan shouted. He searched the entire house but couldn't find him. He had just sat down on the couch when the phone rang.

"Scott residence." "Hello, Mr. Scott. This is Joey Stranton from the Riverside Motel. I was calling to tell you your check bounced. We tried your room first but you weren't there. You were listed so we decided to call you. I hope that's all right." "I'm sorry but I didn't rent a motel room." Nathan interrupted. "Isn't this Dan Scott?" "No it's his son Nathan." "Oh, sorry for the mistake could I talk to your father please?" "He isn't home and I haven't been able to contact him. But if you want I could come down there and take care of the bill with one of his credit cards." "If it isn't any trouble, sure." "Okay, I'll be there in about an hour." "That's fine Mr. Scott. I'll see you then, bye." Nathan hung up the phone and immediately called Lucas.

"Hey Luke, its Nathan. Listen man I just got a call from the Riverside Motel. Apparently Dan had rented a room but his check bounced. I'm going down there to pay the bill. Is it okay if I pick you? I don't know why man but I've got a bad feeling about this. I'll pick you up at your house." Nathan hung up the phone and jumped in his car.

Nathan had just picked up Lucas. "This is probably nothing, Dan's probably got a mistress or something. But something isn't right." "No, I know what you mean Nate. When you called me I had the same feeling. Let's just hope we're being paranoid." Nathan nodded.

Nathan approached the counter of the Motel. "Are you Joey?" The man behind the counter nodded. "I'm Nathan Scott we talked on the phone." "Ah, yes Mr. Scott I'll get the bill for you." "Yeah you do that but do you by any chance have a spare key to the room. I've been able to talk to my dad he said that he had accidentally locked himself out of the room. He was running late for a business meeting so he left without telling you. But he left his watch inside. Is it all right if I go get it first and then I'll pay for the bill." "Oh, yeah sure. I do have to ask you to leave your drivers license here. Nothing personal but we have allot of customers leaving without paying." "No problem." Nathan replied as he handed over his license and took the keys from Joey. "He was in room 16." "Okay, I'll be back in a minute." "Take your time!" Joey shouted as Nathan left the counter.

"Room 16. This is it." Nathan knocked on the door first but heard nothing. They unlocked the door. When they stepped in their eyes had to adapt to the darkness. Finally getting back some vision they saw a figure sitting motionless in the corner of the room. "Dear lord, Lucas call 911!" Nathan shouted and rushed towards Bart. Nathan tried to untie him. "Tell them to hurry Lucas. He's not breathing!" Nathan almost couldn't recognize his friend. Bart's head was entirely covered in Blood. "Luke, do you know CPR?!" Lucas had just got off the phone. "Help's on the way!" Nathan had finally untied Bart and dragged him onto the bed."

Lucas got on top of Bart. He put his lips on Bart's and blew in air. Lucas had been doing that for ten minutes when finally the paramedics arrived.

_Fifteen minutes earlier;_

"Your skull's thick! I actually hurt my hand!" Dan laughed looking at Bart sitting motionless on his chair. "I'm going to get some ice for my hand. You want something? No? Suit yourself. I'll be right back."

"What are those two doing here?" Dan thought to himself when he saw Nathan and Lucas get out of the car. "There going to ruin everything. I need to get out of here." Dan waited behind the ice machine. He saw his son's walk into his room and quickly sneaked away. He had parked his car behind the Motel. Got in and drove off.

_Present time._

Lucas and Nathan had been sitting in the waiting room of the hospital for almost 30 minutes. "I can't believe Dan did this." Nathan sighed. "I know, can you imagine what would have happened if we didn't got there." "Better not to think about that." The boys saw a doctor approach them.

"Are you here for Mr. Vanhooi?" The doctor asked. Nathan and Lucas nodded. "He had lost allot of blood and his head was severely wounded. We have been able to get him stable but he's still unconscious and we don't know for how long. It could be days, weeks or even months and when he wakes up we have no idea what he's going to be like because of the head wounds." "What do you mean doctor 'how's he going to be like'?" Nathan asked. "Well he could have amnesia, be paralyzed or in the worst case scenario his brain is dead and he will be a vegetable." Lucas and Nathan couldn't believe what they were hearing. They both felt ashamed to carry the name 'Scott'. "Okay thank you doctor." Lucas barely could speak.

The boys turned to take their seat again.

Peyton, Brooke and Haley had just arrived at the hospital. "Lucas how is he?!" Peyton screamed. "He's stable but still unconscious." "For how long?" "They don't know it could be days, weeks or longer." Lucas embraced Peyton and felt her crying on his chest. "Can we see him?" Haley asked.

Brooke grabbed hold of a nurse. "Excuse me, can we visit Bart Vanhooi?" The nurse looked through some papers on her clipboard. "Yes you can but only one at the time." Peyton had let go of Lucas. "Lead the way!"

"Can he hear me?" Peyton asked when the nurse opened the door to Bart's room. "We don't know miss but it can't hurt. You never know."

Peyton entered the room and saw Bart lying in his bed. His head was entirely covered with bruises, cuts and his cheeks were swollen. "Hey, it's me." She touched his foot and moved her hand up his body towards his chest. She gently kissed his lips and sat down next to him. She grabbed his hand and started crying.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9: I can't live without you!

Peyton was sleeping next to a hospital bed after crying all night. Bart had been unconscious for three days now. She woke up because of some noise coming from the hall way. "Good morning sunshine." She whispered hoping Bart would wake up. "Do you want to watch cartoons?" she turned the TV on. "Oh, the coyote has finally caught roadrunner. What, you don't believe me? Open your eyes and see for yourself." She couldn't help to feel disappointed to not even see him flinch.

"How's he been doing?" Peyton saw a middle-aged woman with brown loose hanging curls stand in front of her. Before she could say anything the women moved towards Bart kissed him on the forehead and started talking to him in a language she didn't understand. "Excuse me, but who are you?" Peyton confusedly asked. The woman looked up at Peyton and when Peyton saw her eyes she immediately knew who she was. "You're Bart's mother aren't you." The woman slightly smiled at her. "What gave me away?" "Your eyes, they're exactly the same as Bart's. Mrs.?" Peyton smiled nervously at her. "Call me Martha. You're Peyton right?" "How do you know that?" Peyton was surprised to hear Martha say her name. "You're all he talks about when I call him. Well you and basketball." Martha smiled at Peyton. "I'm glad to see my son has such good taste." Martha looked at Peyton from top to bottom. Peyton blushed.

"What are you watching?" Martha pulled a chair next to Peyton. "Nothing just cartoons." "Oh, Roadrunner! He loves Roadrunner." Martha smiled, feeling a tear come to her eye. "He sure does." Peyton replied.

"So how did you know Bart was in the hospital?" Peyton turned the TV off. "Andy called me. He was even kind enough to pay for my plane ticket. I'm glad that Bart ended up with such a nice person." "Yeah Andy's been great to him. How long are you going to stay?" "I could only get a week off from work. I want to stay until he wakes up but I can't afford it." "That's too bad." Peyton could not imagine how Martha was feeling about having to leave because of work. Both women sat in silence for a while.

"How is he doing in school?" Martha broke the silence. "Good, he's been having trouble with math. But he's being tutored by my friend Haley and she's the best in the business." Peyton reassured her. "Good, good."

"Martha can I ask you something? But you don't have to answer if you don't want to." Martha nodded and Peyton continued. "Why did his father leave him. I know he left when Bart's youngest brother was born but he never told me why?" "To be honest Peyton. I don't know either. Everything was going good. He had a good job so did I, he was a great father and loved his kids. When Bart was 8 I got pregnant with his youngest brother and everything was going good. He had painted the new baby's room and everything. When I went into labor Bart's father was at work. He never showed up at the hospital. When I was back home he had taken all of his stuff and just disappeared. Even his parents didn't know where he was. I've never heard from him since. It was really hard on Bart he loved his father very much."

Night had fallen over Tree Hill. Peyton had spent the entire day talking with Martha about how she met Bart, what her dad does for work. Stuff like that. Martha had been sleeping for the last hour. Her jetlag was really bothering her. Peyton was sitting next to Bart her head next to his. Without speaking, just listening to him breathe.

"The coyote never catches roadrunner." Peyton lifted her head and saw Bart looking at her with his eyes half open. She smiled "did you hear that?" Bart nodded. "What else did you hear?" "Just that." He pouted his lips. Peyton smiled and kissed him. "Your mom's here." "My mom?! She didn't show any baby pictures did she?" "Just one of you chasing the dog naked when you were 2." Peyton jokingly said. "Now I know you're lying." Peyton gave him a puzzled look. "I was 3." He sarcastically answered. "I'll wake your mom up okay." Bart nodded.

Peyton walked over to Martha and gave her a gentle push on the shoulder. Martha slowly opened her eyes. "Peyton what's wrong?" "He's awake!" Peyton smiled at her. Martha jumped out of her chair and threw herself on Bart. She started to talk to him in Dutch;

"I've been so worried." She kissed him on his forehead. "When Andy called, I thought I was going to have a heart attack." "I'm glad to see you too, mom. How did you get here, you can't afford that." Bart worriedly asked. "Andy paid for my ticket, I'm glad that you're with such a nice man." "Yeah Andy's great. How are Eric and Frank?" "Your brother's are fine. Frank's entering the basketball program at his school and Eric well you know how lazy he is but at least he's keeping his grades up." "Well that's something." Bart smiled at the thought of his brother lying on the couch watching TV. "Speaking of grades, Peyton here tells me you're having trouble with math." Martha was looking sternly at Bart. She always expected her boys to do well in school. "Don't worry I'm getting help. So you and Peyton met already?"

Peyton had tried to follow the conversation but without success. The only thing she could understand was her own name. She continued watching the two talk.

"Yeah we have met, she seems nice and you didn't tell me she was so beautiful." Bart smiled and looked at Peyton. "Yeah she really is." "Bart son, are you sure you want to do this?" "Do what mom?" "Well be involved with her." Bart looked shocked at his mother. "It's just that you have to leave at the end of the school year. I can see that she cares for you and that you feel the same about her and you're only going to get closer which will make it harder to leave." Martha looked concerned at her son. "Well maybe I'm not going to leave. Get a job after high school. Become a legal citizen and" Bart bit his tongue when he saw his Mother's facial expression. "You're going to college mister so forget about getting a job!" "Well maybe I can go to college in the states." "Bart you know I can't afford that." "If I find a solution to stay would you let me?" "If it's not too expensive, then yes you can stay. But you're coming home during summers." "Off course mom." Bart smiled to his mother and gave her a hug.

"Gather around men!" Whitey shouted through the gym. The boys did as told. "So I've gotten a call from the lovely Miss Sawyer yesterday and apparently our fallen Raven has stood up again." "Do we have a Raven coach?" Tim asked. The team laughed, Whitey rolled his eyes. "I mean that Bart is awake again. You dumb ass. Anyway your captains have something to say. Nathan, Lucas go ahead." Nathan stepped into the middle of the group. "Okay so we thought that it would be a cool idea if we sign this basketball. Me and Lucas have already signed it and if you want you can put a small message on it too."

Nathan had just entered the hospital. He had been feeling awful that Dan did this for 'him'. He hated his father more then anything in the world for that. He had arrived at Bart's room, took a deep breath and walked in. He saw that the room was empty except for Bart who was watching TV.

"Hey superstar!" Bart smiled, glad to have a visitor. "Hey man, so where's Peyton?" "Oh, she went home to take a shower and eat some descent food." "Oh okay, how have you been doing?" "Fine, the doctor said I can leave the hospital in two days." "That's good news. Bart listen man, I've been feeling really guilty for what happened. I still can't believe Dan did this but he did and I'm sorry for that." Nathan looked ashamed at his friend. "Nate, it's not your fault. You can't be held responsible. Have the police caught him yet?" "Not yet, it's like he disappeared from the face of the earth." "Maybe that's best."

"What's with the bag?" Bart pointed at Nathan's hand. "Oh, I almost forgot. It's a gift from the team." Nathan pulled the signed basketball out of his bag and gave it to Bart. "We've all singed and put a small message on it." Bart took the ball from Nathan and started reading the messages. "So you think I'm a great kisser huh? Right back at ya buddy." Nathan laughed. "Ha-ha listen to what Tim wrote; Get well soon B, P.S. Do you still have my NBA live for PS 2?" Both young men where laughing when Peyton walked in.

"What are you two laughing about?" "Peyton look what Tim wrote." Bart gave the basketball to Peyton and pointed where Tim's message was. She read it and started laughing too.

"Did your mom already leave for the airport?" Peyton handed the ball back to Bart. "Wait your mom was here?" Nathan interrupted. "Yeah she came to visit me and yes she left for the airport. Her flight should be taking off in 5 minutes." Bart's thoughts wondered off for a while he thought of Martha telling him not to get close to Peyton. He knew that he didn't want to loose Peyton. He was determined to find a way to stay in America. With the girl he loved.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10: Welcome back!

Lucas had just arrived home from practice and was making his way up the front porch stairs. "Behind you!!!" Brooke shouted, Lucas jumped in the air and dropped his bag. "Brooke, you almost gave me a heart attack!" Brooke looked sad at Lucas in a playful way. "Is there anything I can do to make you feel better?" "I know something but it involves whipped cream, whips and a cat." Lucas jokingly said. "A cat? Sounds kinky I'm in!" Lucas laughed and kissed her.

Lucas and Brooke were sitting on the couch. "So Bart's coming out off the hospital in 2 day's, we should do something special for him." "Like what?" Lucas was anxious to hear what his girlfriend had planned. "I don't really know yet. Suggestions?" He was surprised to hear that Brooke still didn't know what to do. He had thought that she would already planned the whole thing, whatever it was. "Uhm I don't know. Maybe something simple like dinner with friends, watch a movie afterwards." "I like the dinner idea but a movie's nothing to do when you're with a group." Both were thinking. "Wait a second, I promised you to go bowling why not do it with our friends even though it's kind of geeky it could be fun right?" Lucas smiled at Brooke "you do know that basically you just have called me a geek because I love bowling." Brooke grinned at Lucas. "I know but you're my geek!" Lucas laughed "I love being your geek!" He said. Brooke jumped on his lap and kissed him.

Lucas was still hazy from Brooke's sweet lips when she jumped off his lap. "Brooke what are you doing?" "I'm going to call Nathan, Haley, Peyton and Bevin for the night out. Could you call Skills and Mouth? Oh and ask your mom if she wants to bake a cake or something." "Sure, tell Peyton to keep it a secret from Bart. Let's make it a surprise." Lucas said as he got out his cell and started calling.

"Okay, Mouth and Skills are in and my mom would love to bake a cake." Brooke squealed in excitement. "So are the rest and the dinner's going to be at Peyton's house. They had planned to see a movie. Bart won't have a clue. "That's great." Lucas embraced her. "Oh and me, Haley and Bevin are going to cook dinner." "Really? I'm going to put 911 on my speed dial just incase someone gets food poisoning!" Lucas joked. Brooke hit him on the shoulder. "Do you guys need help?" "That's not a bad idea you've got those Karen cooking genes in you." Lucas looked down at the floor. "I also got Dan's bashing people's head in genes." "Lucas you are nothing like your father! If it wasn't for you and Nathan, Bart wouldn't be here right now. Focus on that. Think positive okay?" "I will." He was looking in her eyes with a smile on his face. "How did I ever end up with such an amazing girlfriend?" "Because I let you." Brooke teased. "Thank you for that." "Don't mention it." They moved there heads towards each others and kissed.

"What smell's good?" Lucas had just walked into Peyton's kitchen and put Karen's cake in the fridge. "That would be boiling water." Haley laughed. "Ah, water. The corner stone of life." Lucas said philosophical. "Luke do us a favour and don't get all writer on us okay. "Will do Hales." Lucas replied giving Brooke a quick kiss as she passed him by. "How can I help?" He clapped his hands and rubbed them. "You can cut the vegetables." Bevin shouted. "Aye, aye sir, uh m'am well you know what I mean. " Lucas replied with a confused look on his face. "You are now our slave! Muhaha." Bevin said. Everyone looked puzzled and amused at her. "What? I've always wanted to say that."

"Which movie are we going to watch?" Bart asked Peyton as they drove up her driveway. "I've combined your two loves; cartoons and basketball. That's all I'm saying." "Hm, cartoons plus basketball equals" Bart thought for a while "Space Jam!" He shouted. Peyton nodded. "Ever heard of the dream team? Well we're the Mean Team!" He quoted. Peyton laughed as she got out of her car. "You do know you've combined three of my loves." Peyton gave Bart a puzzled look. "Cartoons, basketball and Peyton Elisabeth Sawyer in my arms." He grinned. "You can be so cheesy you know that." Peyton replied as she puts her arms around his waste. He pouted his lips and she knew that was her cue to kiss him.

Peyton unlocked the door and both of them got in the house. "Surprise!" Bart jumped in the air when he saw all of his friends stand under a huge paper banner that said; Welcome home foreign hunk! He felt a tear come to his eye. "Who do I have to thank for this?" He asked, his eyes filled with joy. Everybody pointed at Brooke. Bart walked over to Brooke gave her a big hug and a quick kiss on the cheek. "Thank you Brooke. This really means allot to me." He whispered in her ear. "Happy to do it." She whispered back. "We helped to!" Bevin childishly screamed. Bart laughed and let go of Brooke. "Thanks, all of you."

Everyone had just finished eating dinner and the atmosphere was laid back. Nathan had been able to steal some of his mom's wine bottles and everyone was getting a little tipsy. "Has anybody seen Mouth?" Bart asked the group. "He told me he was getting some air." Lucas replied with Brooke on his lap. "I'm going to see if he's all right." Bart kissed Peyton and got out of his seat.

"Dude are you okay?" Bart saw Mouth sitting on a garden chair in the back yard. "Yeah, just a little bit too much wine." Bart took a seat next to him. "Common I can see something's wrong." Mouth sighed "it's just everyone has someone you know, you have Peyton, Lucas has Brooke, Nathan has Haley and Skills has Bevin. I'm the only one who's alone, I've always been alone." Bart looked down for a while and thought of what he was going to say. "I know what you mean, to be honest Peyton is the first girlfriend I've ever had." Bart felt his face turn a little red. "Right, Bart Vanhooi, basketball superstar has only had one girlfriend, forgive me but I don't really believe you." Mouth sarcastically said. "It's true, I've always been to shy. Even thinking of a girl I liked made my palms sweaty. But Peyton saw past that for some reason. What I'm trying to say is: just be patient you will find someone who's right for you." "I hope you're right man, so if Peyton's your first girlfriend does that mean you're still a vir…?" "Yes." Bart interrupted him. Mouth nodded uncomfortable. "And you guys haven't?" "No" Bart interrupted him again "and I don't care for that. I mean I do care but it doesn't matter to me. Telling someone that you love them and knowing they will tell you the same is just the most amazing feeling you will ever experience and that's enough for me." Mouth nodded as both of them sat in silence for a while. "What do you say Mouth, some more wine?" "If you promise not to start hugging me, sure!" Both young men laughed and went back inside.

"There you guys are, ready for bowling?" Brooke yelled when she saw Bart en Mouth come back inside. They both nodded. Peyton sneaked up behind Bart and puts her arms around his waste. He turns around and smiles at her. "Ready to be humiliated?" she teased. "Blondie, you don't know what you're getting yourself into." He looked in her eyes and his face fell. "Is something wrong Bart?" "No, to much wine I guess. I'll be fine." "Okay, see you in the car." Bart watched her walk away, he wasn't fine. He didn't want to leave the girl he loved.

"B. We got to go man." Nathan patted him on the shoulder. Bart awoke from his trance "Uh, what? Yeah sure." "Something wrong Bart?" Nathan asked compassionately. "It's just in a few months I have to leave Tree Hill and I don't want to go." "Because of Peyton?" "Mainly and I have so many great friends here. Back home I was kind of a loner. My brothers were the closest I had to friends." "You should talk to the guidance counsellor at school. See what your options are." "That sounds good, thanks Nate." "No problem! Now let's get going. I can't wait to whoop your butt."

"Strike!" Bart shouted as he made a little happy dance. Bevin got next to him and started to dance too. "Bevin, babe what are you doing?" Skills asked his girlfriend. "I never get a strike, I want to know what it feels like." She said sad fully. "Well, you can dance when I get a strike." "Like that's ever going to happen, Mr. Gutter Ball Taylor." Skills looked ashamed. "Besides I think she likes it more to dance with me." Bart had put his arm around Bevin's shoulder." "You watch it foreign kid or I'll get you deported!" Bart and Bevin stuck out there tongue and started dancing again. The rest of the gang turned their heads away in embarrassment.

Nathan and Haley were driving home. Bart had humiliated everyone, apparently he had done allot of bowling in his days. "Nathan is something wrong?" Nathan hadn't said a word the whole time. "It's just before we left Bart told me that he was sad already that he had to leave in a few months and I just really felt sorry for him. He has to leave Peyton. The girl he loves. I couldn't do that." "So what did you tell him?" "I told him he should talk to the guidance counsellor at school. Maybe she knows if he can get a scholarship or something." "That's good advice Nathan." Haley kept staring at her husband. After 5 minutes Nathan finally noticed that she was staring. "What?" "Nothing, I just think it's nice that you're worried about your friend." "Yeah, I love you Hales!" She smiled. "I love you too Nathan!" She rested her head against his shoulder as they continued their drive home.

Bart was sitting on Peyton's bed. Peyton was turning on some slow music. "I should get an award. I kicked everybody's ass." Bart said very proud of his accomplishment. Peyton sat down next to him. "You are getting an award." She smiled. "Really?! What is it?" He childishly replied. Peyton looked in his eyes. "You're getting me." She kissed him intensely while unlocking his belt. The moon and stars shined down on Tree Hill as they made love for the first time.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11: Hope!

The sun shined it's first rays as Tree Hill peacefully woke up. Bart slowly opened his eyes and a smile formed on his face. He felt Peyton's warmth next to him and just because of that his heart rate went up. He couldn't believe that he didn't dream last night it had just been to perfect. He turned his head and smelled her beautiful blonde hair. As he smelled the scent of vanilla his whole body relaxed. To him this moment was perfect.

"Are you smelling my hair?" Bart awoke from his daydream and saw Peyton stare at him. "Yes I am actually. I could smell your hair forever!" He planted his nose in her blonde curls and started smelling really loud. "Hm, ice cream!" Peyton giggled "does my hair really smell like ice cream?" Bart laid his head next to hers and looked into her beautiful eyes. "Yes it does, vanilla ice cream to exact." He said with a smile on his face. They kept looking in each other's eyes in silence. "I love you Peyton." He broke the silence. "I love you too." She smiled.

"I'm going to take a shower." Peyton got out off bed. "What time is it?" Bart stretched his arms. "2 hours until school starts." Bart had gotten out off bed too and had put most of his clothes on. "Then I have time to make you breakfast. Scrambled eggs, bacon and some toast. What do you think?" "Sounds great." Peyton kissed him and went into the bathroom.

He walked down the stairs. When he got into the kitchen, he jumped in the air from shock. "Oh, uhm hey Mr. Sawyer." "Bart how many times do I have to tell you, call me Larry!" "I'm sorry Mr. Saw, I mean Larry." Bart sat down trying to keep his nerves under control. "You want some breakfast Bart? I'm making fried eggs." Larry smiled. "Sure, why not." Bart smiled nervously back at him. "Had another camp out on Peyton's floor?" "Yes, sir." Bart lied. "You should sleep on the couch, it's much more comfortable." "I'll keep that in mind sir." Larry gave him an irritated look. "Sorry, Larry." Bart corrected himself. Larry's smile came back as he put a plate of eggs in front of Bart. "Enjoy!"

"So how have you been doing after the whole Dan Scott incident?" Larry asked concerned. "I'm fine I guess. It's just that I still can't believe someone would do that you know." "Yeah, that man really gives fathers everywhere a bad reputation but I'm glad you're all right. You make my daughter very happy you know." "She makes me very happy too."

"Who makes you happy?" Peyton walked in the kitchen. Gave her dad a big hug and took a seat next to Bart. "Oh nothing Bart was just talking about some girl named Beyonce or something." "Really?" Peyton said sarcastically. Bart's face was becoming redder by the second. Peyton kissed him on the cheek. "That's okay Bart. I mean she's awesomely hot." Bart gave her a nervous smile and finished his breakfast.

"When are you two youngsters going to school?" Larry started to clean the dishes. "Brooke was picking us up, 5 minutes ago and dad don't ever say youngsters again." "What should I call you? Hipsters?" Bart and Peyton looked at each other with a big grin on their face. "I think I hear Brooke's car. Bye daddy!" Peyton gave him a quick kiss. "Bye Mr. Sawyer." Bart left the kitchen but came right back in. "I mean Larry, sorry. I'll work on that." "You do that Bart" Larry said, smiling.

"Hey you guys, hop in!" Brooke yelled as Bart and Peyton approached the car. Lucas was sitting next to her, reading a book. He looked up, nodded and turned his attention back to his book. "You have to forgive my boyfriend, he can be really impolite." Lucas looked up at her. "I have to get through this whole thing before third period." "Well you should have done it yesterday." "Did you read it Brooke?" Lucas crooked his eyebrow. "Yes." Brooke hesitated for a second. "Most of it." Lucas kept looking at her in disbelief. "Most of the summary I found on the internet." She admitted and bit her lip in shame. Lucas smiled at her and continued reading.

Peyton and Bart had taken place behind the happy couple. "You guys look tired. Did you sleep well?" Brooke looked at her passengers. "Yes!" they both replied blushing. Brooke's jaw dropped. "You rocked the casba didn't you?" She said with a sparkle in her eyes. Lucas was ease dropping as he pretended to read. "Brooke, that's none of your business!" Peyton replied uncomfortably. "I'll take that as a yes." Brooke teased. "Just drive." Peyton stuck her tongue out at her. "All right, lovers!" Brooke said with a high voice. Lucas started laughing. "You liked that didn't you babe." She winked at him. He smiled, shook his head and started reading again.

The foursome had arrived at school. Bart could see that alot of people were talking behind his back. He grabbed hold of Peyton and continued his way. Haley approached them. "Hi everybody!" she said with a big smile on her face. Everyone greeted her. "Bart you've got a free period right?" Bart nodded. "Want to get a snack with me or something, my treat. I've got free too." Bart looked at her in suspicion. "Uh, yeah sure. I'll see you later Peyton." He gave her a quick kiss and followed Haley."

"So what do you want?" Bart was standing in front of the vending machines. Haley was nervously looking around to see if Peyton was nowhere near. She turned to Bart. "Listen, forget about the snack. That was just an excuse to get you away from Peyton." Bart looked at her skeptically. "Then what is this about?" "Nathan told me that you want to stay in the US with Peyton." "You're husband has a loose tongue but yes I would like to stay." Haley smiled at him. "I've made an appointment with the guidance counselor for you. She has looked into your situation and you have to go now." "Now?" Bart asked with a crooked eyebrow. "Yes now!" She grabbed his hand and dragged him into the school building. "Okay Hales but you owe me a candy bar." "Fine, fine whatever." She quickly responded.

Bart was nervously waiting in front of the guidance counselor's office. "Come in!" He heard a voice say behind the door. He turned the knob of the door his were hands already drenched with sweat. "Good luck." Haley quickly whispered as he walked through the door.

"Ah Mr. Vanhooi. Please take a seat." Bart obeyed and sat down. "Haley tells me you would like to go to college here in America." "That's correct ma'am." Bart politely replied. "Well first of all I would like you to tell me why you want to stay." Bart pondered for a while. "I just like it very much here. The school's great, the people are great. I would like to complete my college years here too." "Hm, I can understand that but I have a feeling that there's a bigger reason." Bart blushed a bit. "Uhm yes, my girlfriend's here too. I just don't want to leave her." Bart nervously said. The counselor smiled at him. "Ah young love, okay, well I can see that your grades are good, accept for math but I understand you're being tutored for that." Bart nodded. "Good" she went on "that always helps. But I'm afraid it's not enough to get an academic scholarship." Bart's face fell. "You play basketball right?" "Yes, ma'am." "Well I've talked to coach Durham about it and he says you have real potential to play in college too." Bart felt a smile form on his face. "Whitey said that?" The counselor coughed. "Oh, sorry. Coach Durham." He corrected himself. "Yes he did. From what I can see that's your best shot at college here. Keep your grades up, play good and I'm sure you will do fine." She smiled at him. "Thank you ma'am I will!" Bart stood up and made his way to the door. "And Bart, if there are anymore questions don't hesitate to come by." "I will, thank you." He went back outside.

Haley stood up from her seat. "What did she say?" Haley said excited. "She said my best chances at a scholarship were via basketball." Haley's smile grew bigger. "And get this Whitey said I had real potential to do it too." Haley clapped her hands and gave him a hug. "I'm so happy for you Bart! Maybe you and Nathan can play in the same team." "That would be great Hales but as long as I'm with Peyton. I'm happy." "Yeah, you really love her don't you?" "I can't even put it in words how much I love her." Haley smiled. "How about that candy bar?" She asked. "Sounds great!" They locked arms, Bart had to duck so she could reach his arm, as they went on.

The Tree Hill Ravens were getting ready for practice. Bart saw Tim staring at him in disappointment. Bart sighed and grabbed NBA live out of his bag. Tim smiled and snatched it out of his hands. "Thanks B." He said, hugging his game. "No problem Tim." He replied chuckling. "Oh and glad to see you're okay." Tim quickly added still hugging his game. "Thanks Tim."

"Hey man." Nathan took a seat next to Bart. "Haley told me you could play ball in college." Bart nodded. "That's great man. I hope you do!" Nathan smiled. "Thanks Nate. Wouldn't it be great if we got into the same team?" "Yeah it would! N and B making it in the big leagues." He joked. "Now let's get in that gym!" "I'll be right there I've got to talk to Whitey first." "All right, cool man." They joined fists, Nathan went in the gym.

Bart knocked on the door of Whitey's office. "Yeah" Whitey grunted. "Hey coach, could I talk to you for a sec." Whitey looked up from his desk "sure, come in Bart." Bart took a seat. "So what is this about?" "I went to see the guidance counselor this morning." Whitey nodded. "She told me that you said that I could play in college with a scholarship. Do you mean that?" He saw a smile form on Whitey's face. "I meant every word off it son. You've got talent but most important your work ethic is really good. You put the team first and listen to my advice. Trust me, play some more good games like the last one and I can guarantee that there's a college team that wants you." Bart nodded. "Thanks coach." "No problem, now get in that gym. I like you more when you're running up and down my court!" Bart laughed and went back in the gym.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12: relief

Nathan and Haley were sitting on the couch. The TV was on and Nathan had been flipping through the channels but found nothing worth his time. "Nathan go back, go back!" Haley screamed hysterically. "What?" Nathan was shocked by his wife's reaction. "Channel 15! Go to channel 15!" Nathan rolled his eyes and turned channel 15 on. "Dog the bounty hunter? You want to watch Dog the bounty hunter?" Nathan asked in disbelief. "Look, look." She said again with a hysterical voice. "Nathan, that's Dan!" Nathan looked closer at the TV set. "It can't be Hales." "Shut up Nathan and watch!" Nathan kept quit and watched the show. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. It really was Dan. Dog was chasing him and when he catched up tackled Dan. Dan was immediately back on his feet and punched Dog in the face and started running again. He turned the corner and was tackled by Dog's wife, she immediately hit him with her stun gun and Dan was lying motionless on the ground. She cuffed him and Dog joined her. His eye already swollen from Dan's hit.

"This is awesome!" Nathan laughed. "Dan's in jail and he was humiliated on national TV." "I still can't believe this." Haley was nailed to her seat. "Nathan you should call Bart he deserves to know this." "Ha-ha. Yeah I'll do that." Nathan was still chuckling as he got up to call Bart.

"Hello." "Bart, its Nathan." "What's up Nate." "Listen man, are you near a TV?" "Yeah I am. Me, Andy and Peyton are watching Prison Break reruns." "Turn to channel 15! You wont believe this!" Nathan heard Bart asking Andy to change the channel. "Okay, channel 15's on." "Keep watching it Bart." "What the f!" Nathan started laughing on the phone. "Crazy huh!?" "I can't believe this Nate! I have to say I'm relieved! Aw Dog just kicked Dan in the ribs! Ha-ha he deserves it!" "Listen man I've got to go, see you tomorrow at school." "Bye Nate and thanks for calling. This made my day!" They both got off the phone.

"What did he say?" Haley was looking at Nathan with big eyes. "He thought it was hilarious and he was relieved." Nathan took his seat next to Haley again and put his arms around her. "I'm just glad he got caught." Haley said sighing in relief. "Yeah me too."

Nathan looked at Haley. "What?" Haley laughed at the face he was making. "Can I watch sports center?" He gave her a begging look. Haley shook her head. "No sports!" Nathan dropped his lower lip and looked at her with puppy dog eyes. "Please, Hales?" He laid his head on her lap and kept looking at her in a sad way. "Nathan cut it out, no sports!" Haley knew that she was going to admit, she couldn't resist his puppy eyes. Nathan kept looking at her in silence. "Okay, five minutes but that's it mister." She pointed her finger at him. Nathan sat up with a big smile on his face. "Thanks Hales." "Hey come here you." Haley grabbed Nathan's shirt and pulled him in for a passionate kiss. "Forget about sports." Nathan whispered. Haley giggled when he started kissing her neck. He picked her up and carried her to the bedroom.

Andy had already gone to bed. Bart and Peyton were still on the couch watching TV. Peyton's head was resting on his chest. Both of them weren't paying much attention to the TV, they were both occupied with listening to each other breath. Bart rubbed his hands over her the side of her waist. Peyton looked up at him. He smiled at her.

"I don't want to leave you." Peyton gave him a strange look. "What do you mean hunny?" She turned her head and laid it on his lap so she could keep eye contact. "Well, normally I have to leave in a few month's and it's really been bothering me." Peyton's face became a little sad. "I haven't really thought about it. I mean it has crossed my mind but I didn't want to think about it, you know. To enjoy our time together."

Bart kept quit for a while. "What would you say if I could stay here for college?" A big smile formed on his face. "How? Your mom can't afford that." "I went to see the guidance counselor today." He paused. "She said that I could have a chance at a basketball scholarship." Peyton's jaw dropped. "Bart that would be great!" Peyton kissed him. After they let go off each other. Bart continued. "But even if I get a scholarship or not I have to go home this summer. I owe it to my mom and I just want to see my family again." "I understand, you should go it's not like you will be gone forever." "Will you come with me?" Peyton gave him a puzzled look. "Go home for the summer. I would love it if you could meet my brothers." "Sure, I'll go with you. Scratch that! I would love to go with you." She looked in his beautiful blue eyes. "Have I told you lately that I love you?" She asked. Bart smiled. "Uhuh, but it never hurts to hear it again." She grinned. "I love you." "I love you too Peyton."

Bart was eating his lunch alone at school. Until Mouth joined him. "Hey Mouth." "Hey Bart." Mouth took a seat next to him. "I've heard about the scholarship. That's great man!" "Yeah it is but I have to get one first!" Bart took a bite out off his sandwich. "Could I ask you something Bart?" Bart grinned at him. "Oh Mouth. Do you need a hug?" He teased. "Tempting but no thanks." Mouth laughed. "No it's. I don't know how to ask this." Mouth sighed. "Just spill man. You can ask me anything." "Well would you and Peyton be interested to go on a double date?" Bart choked a little on his food. "Yeah man sure. I have to ask Peyton first though but I'm sure she wants to go. So count us in!" "Thanks B." Mouth tried to get up from the table but Bart grabbed his arm. "You're not getting off that easily." Mouth rolled his eyes and sat down again. "Tell me. Who's the lucky lady?" Bart was looking intrigued at Mouth. "I don't think you know her." Mouth's face was becoming red. "Try me." Bart smiled. "Her name's Gigi. We met in the library." "Gigi, that sounds familiar." Bart pondered for a while. "Oh I know. I asked her how I could get to the library believe it or not. That was like the second day I was here." Bart laughed shortly. "She told me where it was and that my pants made my butt look good." Mouth laughed. "Yeah she can be very straight forward." "I'm glad for you Mouth." "Thanks, I've got to go talk to you later?" Mouth got up. "Count on it!" Bart replied.

1/5 week had passed and tonight was the big double date with Mouth and Gigi but first everybody had to get through the last school day of the week.

Lucas and Brooke were on the school parking lot. They passed Bart's car. "Great, Peyton and Bart are already here." Brooke said with a smile on her face, she had been extremely cheerful all morning. Lucas stopped and looked at Bart's car. "Lucas we got to go, I don't want to be late." She whined. "Brooke there's someone in Bart's car." "What, are you sure?" Lucas stepped towards the drivers' side off the car and put his hand on the handle. "Be careful." Brooke whispered. Lucas opened the door and was relieved to see Bart sleeping in his seat. Drool dripping from his mouth. Lucas chuckled at the sight. "It's Bart, he's sleeping." He whispered to Brooke. Lucas grabbed hold of Bart's shoulders. "Wake up!" He shouted while shaking Bart. "Sponge Bob don't!" Bart screamed confused. He immediately blushed when he saw Lucas staring at him with a big grin on his face. He heard Brooke laugh behind his back. "Oh hey Luke, what's up?" "Dude what were you dreaming about?" Bart looked down embarrassed. "I don't remember." He grabbed his bag and got out.

"Bart you look exhausted." Brooke saw his red puffy eyes. "Where's Peyton?" Bart rubbed his temples. "She's back home Brooke. She was sick all night. Dizzy and puking. I've been up all night trying to make her feel better. When she finally fell asleep it was too late for me to go to sleep so I drove here. I remember resting my head for a sec. and then Lucas was there screaming." Lucas was feeling guilty for waking him up the way he did. "Anyway I need to go. My first class is about to start. See you guys later." Bart ran off.

"I hope Peyton's all right." Lucas said worried. Brooke kept quit. "What's wrong pretty girl? You've got that look on your face." Brooke looked at him. "What look?" "Well that look when you're wondering about something. You frown your eyebrows and pout your lips a little. Its kind off cute come to think of it." "Hm, it's probably nothing but." But?" Lucas asked. "Well Peyton puking, being dizzy. Maybe she's pregnant." Lucas gave her a skeptical look. "Brooke pregnant? We don't even know if they, you know had sex." Lucas said uncomfortable. "Oh, they did. Peyton told me yesterday during cheer practice. She said he's the best she ever had." Lucas looked down almost disappointed. "Lucas Scott if you're disappointed about that. Then we are over!" Brooke was really mad about his reaction. "No it's not that. Imagine if she is pregnant! I mean, were not even sure if he can stay in the country." Brooke thought for a while. "We can't be sure. I'll go and talk to Peyton after school. It's probably just something she ate." "Sounds like a plan." Lucas took her in his arms and kissed her. "What was that for?" She asked gasping for air. "Just letting you know I love you!" He grinned. "Oh, in that case. Give me some sugar!" She pouted her lips. He smiled and gladly obeyed.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13: Answers.

Bart had finally arrived at his English class. He was relieved to see that the teacher hadn't arrived yet so he wasn't late. He walked through the classroom and took a seat next to Mouth.

"Hey, B. Ready for tonight?" "Oh hey. I'm afraid I've got some bad news man." Mouth's face fell. "Peyton's sick. She was asleep when I left for school but I don't know how she's going to be like when she wakes up." Bart looked at the ground. "I'm really sorry Mouth." "Don't be. It's not your fault she's sick. Tell her to get well soon okay." "Sure I will but for what it's worth good luck." Mouth smiled. "Thanks."

"P. Sawyer are you awake?!" Brooke shouted walking up the stairs. She entered Peyton's bedroom. "Hey Brooke." Peyton was lying on her bed feeling miserable. "Peyton you look awful." "Gee thanks B. Davis." Peyton said sarcastically. "I'm sorry. How are you?" "Terrible." "Yeah, Bart told me about all the puking." "Not my finest hour." Peyton sighed. "Do you know what it is?" Brooke asked compassionately. "Not really. I think it was something I ate. We had take out yesterday. I told Bart those egg rolls tasted weird." Brooke felt nervous. "Are you sure it was that?" Peyton gave her a puzzled look. "Well I was thinking because you guys took your relationship." Brooke thought her words over. " 'To the next level, maybe you're pregnant." Peyton looked at her skeptical. "It can't be that Brooke. He used protection." "How are you so sure he did?" Peyton bid her lower lip. "Because I put it on him." She said blushing. Brooke looked surprised at her. "Well those things aren't 100 save you know." "Fine I'll take a pregnancy test but you have to go to the drugstore and get it. I'm to sick." Brooke left immediately without saying another word.

Andy and Bart had just finished dinner and were watching TV. "How's Peyton doing?" Andy asked because there was nothing good on. "She's allot better, Brooke's taking care of her. I just thought I would spend some time with my favorite New Zealander." Bart smiled. "How many New Zealanders do you know?" Andy asked skeptically. "Just you. " Bart said embarrassed. Andy laughed. "Don't worry I am the best." "I'm sure you are." Bart joked.

"I also feel kind of guilty spending so much time with Peyton. I mean you've been so nice to me." "Bart I understand and you have to leave in a couple of months. Make the most of it." "Now that you mention leaving. There's a chance that I can stay for college. If I get a basketball scholarship, I'm staying." "Bart are you sure you want do that? It would break your mother's heart." "I've already talked to her about it and she said if I had the chance, I should take it." "In that case I hope everything works out for you and you're always welcome to come by in weekends." Andy patted his shoulder. "Thanks Andy."

"You guys have a game tomorrow?" Andy changed the subject. Bart nodded. "A pretty big one. It's the only team besides us that hasn't been beaten yet. Whitey has been giving us hell all week." Bart grinned. "I'm sure the Ravens will come out victorious. Go Ravens!" Andy said uncomfortably. Bart smiled. "You're coming to watch right?" "You kidding? I'm even brining my camcorder!" Bart laughed. "You're just like one off those crazy soccer moms!" Andy cracked up too and punched Bart on the shoulder. "Oh you sure you want go there old man?" Bart teased. "Bring it on giant." Bart was getting ready to tackle Andy when the doorbell rang. "Saved by the bell old man. I'll get it." Bart made his way to the front door.

"Peyton I'm back!" Brooke shouted closing the front door. When she got into Peyton's bedroom she saw her walking out of the bathroom whipping her mouth. "Peyton did you have to puke again?" Brooke put her arm around her friends shoulder. Peyton nodded. "Let's get this over with." She grabbed a bag from Brooke's hand and went back into the bathroom.

5 minutes later she came out again. "The instructions say that we have to wait for about 5 minutes. If it turns blue I'm pregnant if not, well you get the picture." Brooke took a seat next to her on the bed. "What if it turns blue Peyton?" Peyton sighed. "I don't know Brooke. I love him with all my heart but it's not even sure if he can stay but if it does turn blue I'm positive he's going to be there for me and my baby. He knows what it feels like to have a father walk out on you. He would never do that." Brooke took Peyton in her arm. "Don't forget I'll be there for you too right." She rubbed her back. "I know Brooke thank you."

They noticed that 10 minutes had already passed. "Okay it's time." Peyton got up from her seat and took the pregnancy test in her hands. Her jaw dropped.

Bart was standing in front of an open door in shock. He looked at the person standing in front of him. The figure could barely reach his shoulder height. Had black hair and brown eyes. "Is that a way to greet your brother!?" The figure yelled. Bart snapped out of it and could barely bring out words. "Eric what are you doing here?" Bart still couldn't believe his brother was standing in front of him. Eric grinned "I thought, I would pay visit to my ugly big brother." He teased. "I'm sorry. Come in, come in. I'm so glad to see you." Bart quickly hugged his brother. "Sorry but I'm still in shock."

Both young men went into the living room. "Andy meet my brother Eric!" Bart shouted. Andy got up from his seat and shook Eric's hand. "Are you Bart's youngest brother?" Andy asked. "God no, I'm the middle one." Eric answered almost disgusted at the thought of being his younger brother. "Oh, sorry. Well I'll leave you guys to it so you can catch up." Andy got up. "Andy you don't have to go." Bart said. "No, it's fine Bart. I've got to get up early tomorrow anyway. I'll see you at the game, oh and your brother can stay in the guest room." He wished the boys a good night and they did the same.

"Bart, you've got it made bro!" Bart laughed. "I made nothing, Andy's letting me borrow this stuff for a year." "It's still sweet and Andy looks cool." Eric replied. "He is. How long are you staying?" Bart asked. "School starts again in 2 weeks so I'll stay for about 1/5 weeks." Eric replied. "That's great. I still can't believe mom let you come here." Eric looked down. "That's because she doesn't know." He quietly said. "What?! You just left?" Bart shouted. "We had a fight and I just had to get out of there. So I sold my I pod and some off my old comics and bought me a ticket to America." "What was the fight about?" Bart calmed down a bit. "She found marihuana in my room and she really freaked out about it." "Eric drugs? She was right to freak out." Eric was shocked at his brother's reaction. "Relax Bart I was just experimenting. It's not a habit of mine." He tried to cool his brother down. "I don't care you're going back home!" Bart shouted. "Please Bart don't she's been driving me crazy these last weeks. Let me stay please." "Okay but I'm calling mom right now." "Bart she's probably sleeping." Eric pleaded. "Oh she's awake. Her son's missing you idiot." Bart walked out and grabbed hold of the first phone he saw.

He heard a crying women pick up the phone. "Hello?" "Mom its Bart." "Bart I can't talk right now." "Mom, I know Eric's missing." He heard his mom cry harder. "How do you know that?" "Well mom because he's sitting in my living room." "What?!" Bart held the phone a few inches away from his ear. His mom was giving him a cursing frenzy. "Mom he's all right though." "How could he do that? I called the police and everything." "I'm sorry mom. I'm sure they will understand." "Bart you listen to me!" Martha shouted through the phone. "You get him at the airport and put him on a plane back to Amsterdam." "Mom I promised he could stay." He removed the phone from his ear again. "Listen let him stay. That way you can both cool down and I'll have a serious talk with him about this drugs thing." "Maybe that's not a bad idea. He can stay but you tell him that this isn't over yet!" "I will mom. Talk to you later and I love you." "I love you too son."

"You are such a jerk. You know that Eric." Eric looked at him puzzled. "Mom was worried sick about you. She had already called the cops and everything." "I'm sorry, she was just driving me crazy these last weeks. I needed a brake. I'll call her tomorrow, apologize to her." Bart nodded. "Okay, she said you could stay though." Eric's face lit up. "Great."

Bart sat down again. "How's Frank doing?" he asked. "He's good. He joined the basketball team. It's kind of creepy. Like having a mini Bart walking around. Just not that ugly." He joked. Both men stayed in the living room for a while until they both decided to go to sleep.

Peyton gasped for air. "It's blue, it's blue!" She almost fell down and grabbed hold of a bed post. "Are you sure Peyton?" Brooke grabbed the test and looked at it. She held her hand in front of her mouth. "It's blue." Both girls where in shock. "Brooke what am I going to do? I can't have this baby." Peyton started to cry a little. Brooke rushed over to her and put her arms around her. "It's going to be fine. Like you said Bart wont leave you and I'm here for you okay." Brooke stroked Peyton's back. "No I can't I don't even know what I want to do with my life and let alone take care of another one. I can't do this to Bart, he will throw his entire future away for me. I don't want him to do that and… "Shush we'll go to the doctor tomorrow to make sure if the test is right. Now you need to relax." Peyton dried her tears. "Stay with me Brooke I don't want to be alone." Brooke hugged her. "You will never be alone Peyton. I'll always be there for you!" Peyton relaxed but kept holding on to Brooke.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14: The Vanhooi boys.

Bart and Eric were sitting on the couch having breakfast. Both young men were only wearing their boxers. Bart was finishing his pre game bagels and Eric was having a bowl of cereal. They were sharing their only common interest; watching cartoons.

"You're coming to my game tonight right?" "I don't know. I've never been a big basketball fan." "Eric, you have to go. Unlike back home, people actually watch basketball games here." Eric thought things over. "I think I'll pass." Bart looked disappointed. "There will be cheerleaders." He knew that the thought of beautiful girls prancing around would convince his brother. "In that case. I would love to. After all I've got to support my big brother." Eric said sarcastically. "The things you do for me." Bart sighed.

"You want some orange juice?" Bart got up. "No thanks." Eric replied. Bart had just walked into the kitchen when the doorbell rang. "Eric could you get that!?" Bart shouted. Eric sighed, put his bowl of cereal on the coffee table and made his way to the front door.

Eric opened the door and his mouth fell open at the sight of two beautiful girls standing in front of him. One was a blonde and the other a brunette. The girls gave him a puzzled look. "I know I've only been just in town but apparently word travels fast." Eric arrogantly said. His face turned a little red when he saw the girls laughing. "How old are you, 12?" The blonde said. "I'm old enough to handle you." Eric was still trying to play it cool. "Right, you certainly look like it." The blonde sarcastically replied. "Is Bart home?" Eric looked shocked at her. "Yeah he is but what do you want with old Mc. ugly when you can have me?" Both girls shook their heads and pushed him aside so they could enter.

Bart heard the door slam. "Eric who was it?!" He shouted. He was surprised when Peyton jumped on his lap. She kissed him immediately. "Wow you seem better." Bart said when she let go off him. She just nodded, smiled and kissed him again. He decided to go with the flow.

"You guys seriously need to get a room." Brooke had taken a seat next to the couple. Peyton unlocked her grip. "Sorry, Brooke." Peyton said a bit embarrassed.

"You've got to be kidding me. This is Peyton? The girl you're seeing. What's she doing with you?" Eric was looking at the couple in disbelief. Brooke was really annoyed by this arrogant s.o.b. "Who are you?" Brooke said with an irritated tone. "Oh, sorry girls this is my brother Eric. He arrived yesterday." Bart answered her question. Brooke's face lit up. "Hmm the Vanhooi boys. I think Nathan and Lucas have some competition when it comes to hot brothers in town." She winked at Eric. "I'm sorry. Brooke was it." Eric took a seat next to her. "I've always been into hot brunettes." "Who hasn't?" Bart interrupted grinning which quickly faded when Peyton hit him on the shoulder. "So what do you say beautiful want to grab dinner or something." Eric continued. Brooke smiled. "I'm sorry but I like blondes that's why my boyfriend's one." Eric's face fell and he grabbed his bowl of cereal and leaned back on the couch. "Whatever." He quickly said.

"You have to forgive my brother ladies he looks like a jerk at first but deep, deep down he's a nice guy." Bart said a bit embarrassed at his brother's behavior. Eric gave no response and kept watching cartoons. "Anyway, you girls want some breakfast. I've got bagels." Both girls nodded. "Follow me." He got up and went into the kitchen.

"I'm sorry Bart but I don't like your brother." Brooke made sure the door was closed so Eric couldn't hear her. Bart shrugged his shoulders. "I know he seems like it but he's 16 and two beautiful girls just walked in. I have a theory." Both girls looked skeptical at him. "It says that there are 2 kinds of 16 year old boys. My brother's a fine example of the first 1 which are guys who act real smooth but don't really know what their doing and therefore come over as jerks. Now the other kind are guys who don't talk to girls because their to embarrassed. They just wait and hope a girl will speak to them which almost never happens. I was one of those guys." Bart concluded.

"What makes you think you're not still one of those guys?" Peyton asked intrigued. "I got you didn't I?" He proudly replied. "You sure did." She grabbed him again and they started making out. "God P. Sawyer what's up with you today?" Brooke asked disgusted. The couple let go of each other. "I'm sorry Brooke, it's just I haven't seen my man in almost a day now." Peyton playfully pinched Bart's butt. "Ouch babe watch the moneymaker okay." "I love your moneymaker." Peyton smiled. They started making out again. "You know what forget about the bagel." Brooke said while backing out off the kitchen. Bart and Peyton waved at her without releasing each others lips.

Brooke took a seat on the couch but she made sure there was enough room between her and Eric. She looked closer at Bart's brother and found no resemblance. The two didn't seem related at all. She saw that Eric was trying to say something but wisely kept his mouth shut.

"Brooke, I would like to apologize for my behavior." Eric finally spilled out. "It's just, you know I'm 16 and suddenly two beautiful women are standing in front of me. I guess I was nervous and when I'm nervous I tend to be an arrogant jerk to cover that up." Eric blushed.

"It's okay but don't do it again." Brooke pointed her finger at him. Eric smiled and put his hand out. "I'm Eric Vanhooi, Bart's brother." Brooke shook his hand. "Nice to meet you Eric, I'm Brooke Davis." She smiled. "If you would have done that the first time you would seem allot nicer." Eric nodded. "I'll keep that in mind Brooke."

"So Bart and Peyton how did that all happen?" Eric asked. He seemed more relaxed. "Where to begin?" Brooke thought for a while making sure she wouldn't slip up. "In a nutshell: they met on the first day of school. Immediately hit it off. Went on their first date a few days later and have been together and happy ever since." Brooke concluded. "That's good. I'm happy for him. He's always had it hard being the oldest. With dad leaving he always had to take care of us because mom had to work extra shifts." Eric sighed. "Don't tell him this but I actually missed him. I even listened to his games on the internet." Eric blushed. "Don't worry your secret's safe with me." Brooke reassured him. "Can I ask you one more thing though?" Eric asked, Brooke replied by nodding. "What's up with that announcer's name? What kind of parents would call their son Mouth sounds like an ex con who was someone's love toy or something." Eric looked confused. Brooke laughed. "Ask him at the game tonight."

"Speaking of the game are you going Brooke?" Eric continued. "I have to go. I'm captain of the cheer squad." She smiled when she saw Eric's face. "Any chance there are some single 16year olds on the squad?" He asked hopefully. "Just one 16year old but she has a boyfriend, sorry." Brooke saw Eric quietly curse to himself.

After almost an hour Bart and Peyton finally entered the living room again. Peyton's hair was all messed up and she was carrying a plate with bagels for her and Brooke. "There you guys are! I almost thought you were abducted by aliens." Brooke said sarcastically as she grabbed a bagel from Peyton's plate. "We just had some unresolved matters to deal with." Bart coolly replied. Both Eric and Brooke gave them a skeptical look.

"So what are the plans for today?" Brooke asked with a mouth full. "Nathan wanted the team to come to the river court for some last minute plays." Bart replied he had already put his basketball clothes on and was tying his shoes. "What about you ladies?" "Shopping!" They lied. "What about you Eric want to come to practice? Meet some of my friends?" Bart asked, grabbing his car keys. "Sorry, big brother but if I have to choose between watching men sweat or hanging out with 2 gorgeous girls. I choose the girls. If you two don't mind me tagging along?" He gave Brooke a pleading look. "Uhm actually you can't. We have planned an entire day with some of our friends. The car's full and you would probably be bored with us gossiping." Brooke lied again. Eric sighed "okay Bart I'll go with you."

Bart smiled. "I've got to go right now. You girls finish breakfast. Make sure the door's closed okay." He gave Peyton a kiss and said bye to Brooke. Eric just nodded to the girls and followed his brother to the garage.

"No way, you drive this?" Bart nodded and got into the car. Eric followed his example. "Cool dice big bro!" Eric sincerely said. Bart smiled at him. "Now I'm positive you're my brother!" He turned his keys and drove off.

The girls heard the boys drive off. "I still can't believe you were so calm?" Brooke asked in awe. "I can't either. It was killing me inside. I just wanted to tell him everything." Brooke looked at her skeptical. "Okay, but that doesn't explain all the making out." Peyton shrugged her shoulders. "Sometimes the best defense is a good offence. I didn't want him asking how I was doing all the time. It would only make it harder for me to keep quiet." Brooke nodded. "We have to be at the doctor in an hour. So we better get going. Are you ready?" "No!" Peyton shouted. "Let's get going anyway." Brooke replied calmly. Both girls got up and left.

Half of the Ravens were already waiting at the river court. Most of them weren't in a good mood because they weren't used to getting up early in weekends. Bart and Eric had just joined the team. "Hey guys! Meet my brother Eric." The team nodded at him and Eric did the same. "Okay Eric why don't you take a seat on those bleachers over there. That's my friend Mouth so you have someone to talk to."

Eric took a seat next to Mouth and shook his hand. "So what's up with your name?" He asked right to the point. Mouth laughed and started explaining.

The team was joking around but kept quiet when Nathan and Lucas arrived. "Okay guys listen up! This game tonight's important. Whitey showed us some new plays and I want to make sure we know them!" Nathan shouted. It was creepy how much he sounded like Whitey. "Nathan do we have to? I want to watch cartoons." Tim whined. Nathan instantly gave him a glare of death. "Sorry Nate." Tim looked down. "Alright let's set it up!" Nathan threw his ball to Skills.

Peyton and Brooke were anxiously waiting for the doctor to come back with Peyton's test results. Brooke was holding Peyton's hand. They looked up when the door opened.

"Miss Sawyer your results are in." The doctor sat down behind his desk. Both girls were sitting on the edge of their seats. "Congratulations. You're pregnant." The doctor smiled but his smile quickly faded when he saw the girls reaction. "I take it that this is an unwanted pregnancy?" "No, just unexpected!" Brooke replied while hugging Peyton. The doctor sighed. "I know you're young but take these cards. One's my number so you can call when there's something wrong. The other is from social services, they will be glad to help out and prepare you." Brooke accepted the cards as the doctor got up and left again.

The girls sat in quiet for a while when Brooke started talking. "When are you going to tell Bart?" Peyton sighed. "I'm going to wait until Eric's back home. I don't want Bart worrying about me when his brother's in town. They need to enjoy their time together." Brooke nodded. "So we keep quiet until then."

Peyton and Brooke had just stepped out off the office when they bumped into Haley. Who seemed very nervous. "Brooke, Peyton what are you guys doing here?" "Nothing what are you doing here?" Brooke asked. Peyton wisely stayed out of it. "Uhm. I can't tell you." Haley blushed. Brooke crooked her eyebrow. "Okay so we're both hiding something. Tell you what Hales if you tell us why you're here then we will tell why we're here." Peyton said to end the awkward vibe that was going on between the three of them. "You first!" Haley quickly said. Peyton sighed and looked down. "I'm pregnant." She whispered. Haley hugged her. "Me too." She whispered back. Brooke and Peyton looked at her with big eyes. "What?" Haley just nodded. "For how long?" Brooke asked still in shock. "Almost 4 weeks." Haley looked down. "Does Nathan know?" Haley looked back at her friends with a tear coming from her eye. "No he doesn't. I'm waiting for the right time so please don't tell him." "We won't but Hales you've got to tell him." Brooke replied. Haley wiped a tear from her face and hugged her friends.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15: Spill.

"Andy when does the game start?" Eric asked. He was sitting next to Andy on the bleachers of the Tree Hill gym. Andy looked on his watch. "In about 15 minutes." Andy became a little nervous when he saw Karen walk into the gym. "What's wrong man? You seem twitchy." "I'm fine." Andy quickly replied, keeping his eyes focused on Karen. Eric looked in the same direction as Andy. "You like her?" "She's my past." Andy sighed. Eric frowned. "Well maybe you should make her your present again, maybe even future?" Andy looked a little disappointed he knew Eric was right but could he risk being hurt again?

Whitey was doing his usual routine of walking up and down the locker room. "I think I don't have to point out how important this game is. Nathan, Bart they know you're our top scorers. They will put allot of pressure on you two keep passing the ball, make them run after it, get them tired. Lucas when you get an open shot take it! Skills keep the pressure high in defense try to force some turnovers. Now go out there and give them hell!"

The team went into the gym but Whitey held back Nathan and Bart. "You two need to be perfect tonight." "Off course coach we won't let you down." Nathan replied. "Not for me this time son. There are some major scouts in the crowd. Just thought you should know." Whitey left the two. "Nate I don't want to just beat these guys. Let's humiliate them!" Bart growled. Nathan grinned. "Let's do this thing!" They joined fists.

"I still can't believe it. This was the best Ravens game I've ever seen!" Mouth was shouting hysterical through his microphone. "Final score 45-99. This one's for the history books people! Top scorers Nathan Scott; 30. Bart Vanhooi; 29. Lucas Scott; 17. I'm Mouth McFadden, see you next week!"

Haley, Peyton and Brooke were sitting on the bleachers after the game. Waiting for their 'stars' to come out of the locker room. "I'm going to tell Nathan tonight." Haley was looking down at her feet. "I can't keep this bottled up inside anymore!" "When exactly?" Brooke put her arm around Haley's shoulder. "When we get home. I'm just going to tell him everything!" Haley weakly smiled. "You know what; I'm going to tell Bart too!" Peyton confidently said. Brooke gave her a skeptical look. "Weren't you waiting until Eric was gone?" Peyton shook her head. "I said that but it's now or never. I just can't lie to him." Brooke gave them a hug. "Good luck my best friends." The girls stood up when they saw Nathan, Bart and Lucas come out off the locker room. They saw a man in a suit approach the three young men.

"You guys played a hell off a game tonight." The boys gave him a puzzled look. "Thanks, Mr.?" Lucas asked. "Oh, sorry. Bob Mackey." He shook their hands. "I'm a scout for a big school here in North Carolina." Bart was still looking skeptical at the man. "Which school?" He asked. "I'm sorry but I can't give you that information yet. I can assure you that I really liked what I saw out there. Especially from you two." He pointed at Bart and Nathan. Both of them smiled. "I'm going to take this report to my coach and I think he's going to be very interested. You'll be hearing from us!" Bob smiled at them. "I've got to run but keep up the good work guys and winning state never hurts." He winked at them.

"What was that all about?" Haley asked after receiving a kiss from Nathan. "Apparently he's a scout for a major school. He said that we played a great game and that his coach will definitely be interested in us." "Interested in you and Bart." Lucas added a bit disappointed but when he felt Brooke's arms wrap around his waist, he realized that even basketball couldn't come near the love that he felt for her. He smiled and gave her a passionate kiss.

"From which school was he?" Haley asked ignoring Lucas and Brooke kissing. "He didn't say but it was right here in North Carolina!" Bart and Nathan smiled. "That's great." Haley hugged Nathan facing Peyton who had the same worried look on her face as her. "All right let's eat!" Bart shouted. "Is it okay if we get take out? I don't feel very well." Peyton grabbed Bart's hand. "Are you all right?" Bart looked at her concerned. Peyton nodded. "I just need some fresh air." Bart and Peyton grabbed their stuff, said bye and left.

"Nathan, I would like to go home too. I'm so tired." Haley produced a fake yawn. "Sure Hales." Nathan kissed her on the cheek and grabbed his bag.

Brooke and Lucas where the only people left in the gym. "What do you want to do tonight boyfriend?" Brooke looked into his eyes. Lucas shrugged his shoulders. "I don't really care. All that matters is that I'm with you." Lucas grinned. "Lucas Scott you're such a smooth talker." She teased. Lucas laughed and kissed her. "There's a beach party." Brooke said out off breath. "Hm, under aged drinking, dancing, music and Brooke Davis. Sounds good!" Lucas smiled.

Bart and Peyton just got home. Bart was carrying a large paper bag full of food just for him. "Where's Eric?" Peyton asked while sitting down on the couch. "He went to some party with Mouth. I 'm picking them up later." Bart unwrapped his first burger. "Mouth and Eric?" Peyton asked. Bart nodded. "Yeah they seem to get along well together." He took a bite. Peyton kept quiet. She had tried to act normal around her boyfriend but she couldn't bare it anymore. "Peyton is something wrong?" Bart saw that she looked worried. Peyton sighed. "Bart I have to tell you something." She hesitated. He grabbed her hand. "What's wrong baby?" Peyton looked down at his hand holding hers. "Bart I don't know how to tell you this." He embraced her. "What? You know you can tell me anything." He stroked her hair. Peyton took a deep breath. "I'm pregnant." She whispered. Bart immediately let go and looked at her in shock. His face turned pale and he said nothing. "Bart talk to me." Bart kept looking at her. "I uh. I, I have to pick up Eric." He stood up and grabbed his keys. "Bart please don't go we need to talk about this." Peyton started to cry. "Peyton I." He stopped talking and left. "Bart stay!" Peyton shouted crying her eyes out. She heard his car pull out of the driveway. She grabbed her phone and dialed Haley's number.

"Haley do you want to see a movie or something or head straight to bed?" He jumped on the couch and stretched his legs. Haley sat down next to him. Nathan could see that something was bothering her. "Hales is something wrong?" Haley shook her head. "No I'm fine." "Haley I know something's wrong. Just tell me." Haley looked down. Nathan grabbed her hand trying to comfort her. Haley looked at him smiling. She sighed. "I'm pregnant." His smile faded. "I don't know what to say." He said confused. "How long do you know?" " 4 weeks" Haley said shyly. Nathan let go of her hand and stood up. "4 weeks! You've known for 4 weeks!" Nathan shouted angry. "Nathan please I was afraid how you would react and your shouting isn't helping." "Oh, I'm not shouting because you're pregnant! I'm shouting because you kept it from me for 4 weeks! We're married for Christs' sake! You should have told me!" Nathan was furious. "I'm sorry Nathan I really am." Haley started crying. "Forget about this. I'm going out!" "Where are you going?" Haley asked but Nathan ignored her, grabbed his keys and stormed out. Nathan had just walked out when Haley heard her phone ring. She tried to keep her crying under control and answered it.

"Haley he left. He just left." Haley could hear Peyton cry and started to sob herself. "So did Nathan." She said. "Hales what are we going to do?" "I don't know Peyton. Hope their just freaking out and will be back soon I guess." She was relieved to hear Peyton calm down.

Nathan was sitting on a bench at the river court. He was holding a half empty tequila bottle wrapped in brown paper bag and took another big gulp. He heard a car park and was surprised to see Bart approach him. Bart took a seat next to him snatched the bottle from his hand and also drank. "Hey man, help yourself." Nathan said sarcastically. Bart handed the bottle back to him. "Sorry Nate I needed that!" "Well get your own then!" Nathan replied bitter. Bart looked shocked at him. Nathan looked down. "I'm sorry Bart it's just I'm really pissed at Haley." "It's okay Nate. Why are you mad?" Bart asked. Nathan sighed. "She's pregnant and I'm not mad because of that. I'm actually looking forward to being a dad." Nathan smiled weakly. "But she kept it a secret for 4 weeks. We're married; I understand that she was nervous but something this big; you don't keep as a secret from the one you love. Right?" Nathan looked at Bart and saw that he was on verge of crying. "What's wrong with you?" Nathan asked compassionately. "Peyton's pregnant too." Nathan's eyes grew. "What?" He asked in shock and handed his bottle back to him. Bart took it just nodded and drank. "Wow, in about nine months we'll be dads." "Nathan in nine months I might not even be in the country anymore!" Bart felt a tear roll over his cheek. "I want to be here for her take care of our baby but my future is just so uncertain." Nathan thought for a while. "Listen man everything will be fine we love them and you know I've got your back." Nathan concluded. Bart looked at him with a weak smile on his face. "I do love her and just so you know I've got your back too man!" They joined fists.

"What are you guys doing here?" Nathan and Bart looked over their shoulder and saw Jake standing behind them holding a basketball. Bart shook his head. "What are you doing here Jake?" He asked irritated. "I came to ask you something." Jake said embarrassed. Bart kept quiet. He knew where this was going. "I was wondering if you could stop seeing Peyton. You have to leave after the school year she can't handle that. Make it easy for the both of you and don't get too close." Jake concluded. Bart felt his heart rate raise in anger. "So you can be with her right?!" He shouted. "Yeah actually. I can't live without her. I thought I could but I can't and you have to leave so I thought it would be better for her." Jake kept calm. "Dude you are in no position to talk about leaving her. I know all about you two. Running like a coward because of an ex." "That was different." "Maybe the reasons why were different but you left her man. You had your chance and what you don't understand is that I love that girl more then anything in the world and hell is more likely to freeze over before I leave her." Bart said passionately standing up. "Then I guess I will have to fight with all my heart to get her back." Jake was raising his voice too. Nathan saw Bart's face and he knew he had to intervene or this would end badly. "Jake just leave man. You had your chance." Nathan coolly said moving his body between them so nobody would get hurt. "I can't do that Nathan. I love her and I don't want to see her hurting over something that's going to end anyway." "Jake if I ever see you near the women I love, the mother of my child then so help me god I don't know what I'm going to do to you!" Bart screamed hysterically. Jake was shocked when he heard that Peyton was pregnant. He understood now how Bart was feeling. He had felt the same way when he knew about Jenny. He knew that there was no chance that Bart was leaving now. "I've got to go" "Whatever man just get out of my face!" Bart said bitter. Jake just nodded and left.

"Can you believe that guy?" Nathan said. "I understand. He loves her; I would try the same if I was him." Bart had cooled down and fully understood Jake and how he was feeling but that didn't take away that Jake was out of line.

Bart looked at his watch. "Nate I have to pick up Eric, common I'll give you a ride." Bart had just arrived at the party. Nathan was still in the car sleeping. Bart had locked the door so he couldn't do anything stupid. Bart had searched the party for about 5 minutes when he bumped into Mouth.

"Hey Mouth we got to go. You ready?" Bart kept looking around the room in the hope of spotting his brother. "Yeah I've got to grab my coat first. Are you okay you look distracted?" Mouth asked. "Huh, yeah I'm fine. Have you seen Eric?" Mouth shook his head. "Okay well you grab your coat and I'll check the backyard." Mouth nodded and took off. After receiving several congrats on his great game Bart finally got outside. His eyes grew when he saw Eric making out with some girl. He coughed and got the couples attention. "Eric we got to." Bart stopped talking when he saw who the girl was. He looked shocked at her. "What are you doing?" He asked the girl. The girl looked embarrassed. "What's going on?" Eric asked confused. Bart shook his head in disappointment. "Eric this is Gigi the girl that was dating Mouth." "What you're with Mouth? You told me you were single." Eric looked disappointed. "I have to go." Gigi tried to leave but saw that Mouth had been watching the whole thing. She just went by him without saying a word. "Mouth I'm so sorry. I had no idea!" Eric apologized. Mouth was still in shock when he answered. "That's okay Eric it's not your fault." Bart felt really bad for Mouth but it was the least of his concern. He had to get back home to Peyton.

Bart had already dropped of Mouth and Eric, he had just pulled up Nathan and Haley's driveway. He tried to wake up Nathan but that didn't work. So he picked him up and dragged him to the front door. He rang the doorbell. Tried one last time to wake up Nathan but stopped when he heard the door open. Haley opened the door. Her eyes were all red and puffy from crying. "Oh my god. Nathan! What happened?" "He had a bit too much to drink. Where do you want me to put him?" "On the couch." Haley moved aside so Bart could carry Nathan to the couch. "Thank you so much for brining him home. I was so worried." "No problem Haley." They both felt a bit uncomfortable. "You know he is excited about being a dad. He was just mad because you kept it from him." Bart said smiling weakly. He turned around and tried to leave again. "I hope you're on your way to see Peyton! You've really hurt her. She doesn't deserve to be treated like that." Bart turned around he gave Haley a hurt look. "I know Haley. I just freaked out. Why don't you take care of Nathan and I'll get going." Haley felt embarrassed. "Bart I'm sorry. Peyton's one of my closest friends I don't like when she's hurting." Bart nodded. "It's okay you were right. Just take care of your husband okay?"

Bart had just walked into Peyton's house. "Peyton where are you?" His heart broke when he saw Peyton sitting on the couch. Her face was all wet with tears and he could see how she was hurting. Bart walked over to her and kissed her passionately. "Peyton I'm so sorry! I freaked out. I'm so sorry." He kept her in his arms. "Bart how could you do that I was so afraid and lonely." She sobbed. "I'm so sorry Peyton." He wiped the tears from her face. "I love you with all my heart. I can't live without you anymore and the fact that you're pregnant only makes me love you even more." He kissed her on her forehead. "So you're going to be here for me." "Peyton you and this baby are my future now. No matter what happens I will always be on your side." He looked into her beautiful eyes and felt more in love then ever when he saw them twinkle again.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16: Trouble in paradise.

Nathan woke up. He found himself lying on the couch and having a splitting headache. He slowly stood up and immediately regretted it when he felt his head pounding. He went into the kitchen and got a box of cereal out of the cabinet. Haley walked in but ignored her husband. Nathan sighed and also grabbed some aspirin.

"Hales you should have told me." Nathan was straight to the point. Haley looked at him hurt. "I know Nathan I'm sorry. It's just I was afraid about how you would react and that made you mad. I, I'm sorry." Nathan moved closer to her and took her in his arms. "Hales we have to be honest about things like these. I love you and you can tell me anything, you know that right?" Haley smiled. "I know, again I'm sorry. So do you forgive me?" Nathan kissed her on the forehead. "Of course, always and forever." "Always and forever." She giggled and pulled him in for a passionate kiss, still tasting the sweet taste of lucky charms in his mouth.

Nathan grabbed his bowl and spoon and took a seat at the kitchen table. "When are we going to tell everyone?" Nathan asked with his mouth full. Haley took a seat next to him. "Well Peyton and Brooke know." "So does Bart." Nathan interrupted. "I want to tell Lucas myself. I just hope Brooke hasn't slipped up yet." Haley continued. "I think we should tell my mom together and you should call your parents. Where are they anyway?" "Somewhere in California." "Should we tell Dan?" Nathan asked. "I think we should, I mean he is still your dad. Like it or not." Nathan nodded. "I know, let's just avoid it for a while. I don't really want to deal with Dan now. All that matters is you and our baby." Haley smiled when she heard Nathan say 'our baby'. Nathan quickly kissed her on the lips stood up and put his empty bowl in the dishwasher.

Lucas had been helping out at Karen's café. He was counting the minutes because Haley was coming over to have lunch with him. Apparently she had big news but since she had already gotten married Lucas thought that she was exaggerating a little. She probably got an A and wanted to rub it in his face.

Brooke came into the café. Lucas was busy waiting tables. "Hey Karen cute new waiter." She joked. "I know, I hired him today. His name is Lucas or something." She played along. Brooke smiled. "I think I'm going to say hi." Brooke sneaked up to Lucas and took him in her arms from behind. Lucas jumped a little from the surprise. He turned around and immediately a smile formed on his face. "If it isn't my favorite girl in the world." He gave her a quick kiss. Brooke smiled. "Do you want to do something today boyfriend?" "I want to but I have to help my mom out." He looked a little disappointed. "Well maybe if you ask her very nicely you can come with me." Lucas smiled "I'll try." Lucas took his service tray and walked over to Karen.

"Mom is it okay if I leave now?" He asked with a sweet voice. "Hey at home you can call me mom in here it's boss." She said with a smile. Lucas crooked his eyebrow. "Isn't that the same?" Karen laughed. "Correct answer, sure you can go." "Thanks mom, I mean boss." Lucas gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. Put his arm around Brooke's shoulder and left the café.

They were walking down the street holding hands. "So what do you want to do?" Brooke asked as she squeezed his hand. Lucas shrugged his shoulders. "How about renting a movie." Brooke asked. Lucas sighed. "I'm not really in a movie watching mood." "I'll make it interesting." "Hm, please continue." Lucas said intrigued. Brooke had a mischievous look. "A movie followed by Brooke Davis." She winked at him. Lucas grinned "Okay deal, but no chick flicks." Brooke frowned and pouted sadly. "Okay no chick flicks." She agreed. "Now let's turn that frown upside down." Lucas kissed her.

Brooke had only just closed her front door when Lucas gently pushed her against it and started to kiss her passionately. Brooke didn't resist and kissed him back. When she felt his hand go under her shirt the doorbell rang. Lucas moaned but ignored it. The doorbell rang again. Brooke broke loose of his grip. "I should get that." Lucas took her back in his arms. "Do you have to?" He whined. Brooke smiled and gave him a quick kiss. She grabbed hold of the knob and turned it.

"Hey Hales." Brooke greeted her friend. "Hey Brooke, Luke. Can I come in?" "Sure, sure come in." Brooke moved aside so Haley could enter the house. "Thanks." Haley closed the door behind her. "Luke I need to talk to you." Haley looked at Brooke. "In private." Brooke first look puzzled at her friend but then understood why she wanted Lucas alone. "Yeah sure, I'll go see Peyton." Brooke kissed Lucas and gave Haley a supporting nod. Haley and Lucas walked into the living room and took a seat on the couch.

Peyton slowly woke up. She looked to the side of her and was glad to see Bart still sleeping peacefully. She rolled over so she was facing him. She smiled because she was so glad that he was there next to her. Her smile quickly faded and made way for guilt when she thought back at what had happened last night.

_Flashback._

Peyton was sitting alone on the couch. Bart had left her for almost 2 hours now and she had been crying the whole time. She looked up when she heard the doorbell. She jumped up and ran to the front door, hoping that Bart was back. She opened the door and was in shock. "Jake what are you doing here?" "Hey Peyton I need to talk to you. Can I come in?" Jake asked embarrassed. "Um yeah but not too long." Peyton couldn't deny that she was glad to see him. Jake went inside and took a seat. "I need to talk about us Peyton." Jake sighed. "There's nothing to talk about Jake." "I don't believe that Peyton. I need you and I know that a part of you needs me too." "That's not true." Peyton replied quickly. Jake moved closer and took her hand. "Peyton I love you and I've tried to forget about you but I can't." He looked at her hurting. "Jake, I" Peyton tried to finish her sentence when Jake kissed her. When he let go Peyton was still in shock. "Jake you shouldn't have done that." "Then why didn't you push me back?" Jake asked hopeful. Peyton shook her head. "I don't know. You should go." "Peyton why?" Jake gave her a pleading look. "Because I'm hurt and uncertain about my future but this was a mistake don't start convincing yourself that it was anything else." She sighed. "I don't love you now please go!" Jake stood up and turned around when he was halfway. "I know you still have feelings for me Peyton." He walked out. Peyton started crying again, not because Jake had left but that she had just betrayed the only man that mattered to her.

_Present._

Peyton felt a tear roll down her face. "What's wrong?" Peyton tried to gasp for air when she saw Bart looking at her. "I, I" She stammered. Bart stroked her hair and looked her in the eyes. "Peyton you can tell me." He smiled. "Last night when you were gone Jake came over here." Peyton paused when she saw Bart's face. "He told me that he loved me and then he kissed me." "Did you push him away?" Bart felt his eyes water up. Peyton shook her head. "I was feeling miserable, insecure and I'm so sorry." She felt her heart break when she saw a tear roll down his face. "But Bart it didn't mean anything I was just confused." Bart shook his head. "Do you love him?" Peyton gave him a puzzled look. "That's not a difficult question. Do you love him?!" Bart raised his voice. Peyton looked shocked at him. "No I don't, I love you." She tried to lay her hand onto his but he pulled his hand away. "Then you should have slapped him in the face for trying to kiss you." "Bart please it didn't mean anything." Bart stood up and quickly put on his clothes. "Maybe to you it didn't but a kiss is never just a kiss Peyton!" He moved towards the door. "Bart please don't go?" Bart turned around. "Tomorrow Eric has to fly home and I'll be joining him. Goodbye Peyton." Bart stormed out.

Brooke had just parked in front of Peyton's house when she saw Bart run out upset. "Bart, what's wrong?!" She screamed. "Ask her!" Bart bitterly replied as he got in his car and speeded off.

"Lucas I'm pregnant." Haley had been silent for about 5 minutes when she finally had gathered the courage to tell Lucas. Lucas looked at her in shock. "Are you sure?" He said, Haley just nodded. He just kept quiet. "Luke aren't you going to say something?" Lucas was still shocked but then finally opened his mouth. "I don't know what to say. Does Nathan know?" Haley nodded. "Well I guess I'm happy for you guys even though it won't be easy raising a kid in High school." "I know but I know we'll be fine." Lucas hugged Haley. "You know I'll always be there for you no matter what happens." Haley smiled. "I know thank you."

Bart had just ringed a doorbell his sadness had made way for anger, when the door opened. He saw a shocked Jake stand in front of him. Without thinking he grabbed Jake by his shirt and pushed him against the wall causing a vase to fall and break. "You couldn't just leave her alone couldn't you?!" Bart shouted as a tear rolled down his face. "I love her, I can't help that." "That doesn't mean you can kiss my girlfriend." Bart punched Jake in the face. Blood gushed out of his nose. Bart let go of him and immediately felt guilty for what he did. He wiped the tear from his face. "Why can't you just leave us alone?" Jake looked at him. "I can't do that and I'm glad I kissed her at least now I know I still have a chance." He admitted. Bart felt his anger rise again when he thought of Jake kissing Peyton. He punched Jake in the stomach. Bart was breathing heavily when he saw Jake fall down on the floor. He was shocked to hear a little girl crying. The crying had caught him off guard but he realized now that this wasn't the way to get rid of his anger. "Just stay away from her!" He shouted and left.

"Peyton?!" Brooke walked into Peyton's room and found her crying. Without thinking she hugged her. "What happened?" She rubbed Peyton's back while Peyton told her everything, about Bart leaving her after she told him she was pregnant. Jake kissing her. "I told him that it didn't mean anything but Bart didn't believe me and he just left saying that he was going back home." Peyton concluded. Brooke stood up. "Peyton how could you do that to him. Bart loves you more than anything and you broke his heart. I can't believe you did that." "Brooke it didn't mean anything!" "Peyton you should learn to listen to me, a kiss always means something!" Brooke stormed out. She was so disappointed in her best friend. She couldn't imagine how Bart was feeling. She got in her car and drove off.

Brooke passed by the river court on her way home and saw that Bart was sitting on the bleachers.

"Bart I'm so sorry." Brooke took a seat next to him. Bart had his hands over his face but then looked up at Brooke. Brooke was shocked. She had never seen him like this. She knew him as joyful, fun guy. But now all the joy had left his beautiful blue eyes. Brooke hugged him and she felt him cry a little on her shoulder.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17: The day after.

Haley and Lucas were sitting in the kitchen. Nathan had arrived 1hour after Haley had told Lucas the big news. They had been talking and laughing like a happy family. They looked up when Brooke walked in. What they didn't know was that Bart had come with her. He was sitting in the living room. He had turned on the TV trying to get his mind off Peyton. Brooke had been trying to comfort him the whole ride home. She knew that Peyton loved him and that it probably was a mistake but she also knew how much it hurts when someone betrayed you like that. She had learned that the hard way only a year ago when Lucas and Peyton sneaked around behind her back.

Lucas stood up and kissed his girlfriend. "I'm going to be an uncle." He smiled. "That's great." Brooke produced a fake smile. "Is something wrong beautiful." Lucas could see that something was troubling her. Brooke just shook her head and joined Nathan and Haley at the kitchen table. "Is someone in the living room? I swear I can hear the TV." Lucas asked as he took a seat next to Brooke. Brooke looked down. "Bart came with me." "B's here? Why didn't he come into the kitchen?" Nathan asked. Brooke sighed. "He's not in a good place right now." Haley looked puzzled at Brooke. "I thought he was happy to be a father?" She asked. "Wait, Peyton's pregnant?" Lucas interrupted. The other three just nodded. "And I'm the last one to know? Since when did I get out off the loop?" He asked a little offended. Brooke rolled her eyes at him. "That's not really important right now boyfriend. He was happy about being a father until." Brooke paused; she didn't know how to say this. "Until?" Haley asked eagerly with a girlish smile on her face. "Until Peyton told him that Jake kissed her." Everyone was silent and in shock.

"Does she still have feelings for Jake?" Haley broke the silence. "She said that she loves Bart, she was scared because he left her after she told him that she was pregnant." "So he freaked out isn't that a bit normal when you're 18 and hear that you're becoming a father. That's not a reason to kiss other guys or let them kiss you." Lucas said harshly. Nathan had kept quite during the whole conversation. Haley had noticed that he had a weird look on his face. "Nathan is there something wrong." Nathan looked at her and she could see the fire in his eyes.

"I'm going to kill Jake!" His voice was filled with hate. "Take it easy Nate, Jake can't help the way he feels about Peyton." Lucas tried to calm his brother down. "No Luke I won't. Jake knew that Peyton was pregnant, he knew that Bart loved her more than anything and that he would do anything for her and the baby. I saw how passionate Bart was, Jake should have backed off." "Wait when did you guys talk with Jake?" Brooke asked intrigued. "We were at the river court, Jake walked up to us he asked Bart to let go of Peyton because he was going to leave when the school year's over. I can understand that but not after all the things Bart said to him." "Which were?" Lucas asked. "That he loved her and that Jake had to leave the mother of his child alone and that he would never leave her unlike him." Nathan stood up. "Nathan where are you going?" Haley grabbed his arm. "I'm going to try and comfort my friend." "We're coming with you." Haley replied. Nathan shook his head "No, I want to talk to him alone." He smiled at her.

Bart was watching cartoons but changed the channel when he thought of all the mornings he had spent with Peyton on his lap watching bugs bunny and others alike. He felt his eyes become teary again, he quickly wiped his eyes when he heard someone come into the room.

"What are you watching man?" Nathan asked carefully. He took a seat next to Bart who just shrugged his shoulders. "Just flipping through channels." He answered, Nathan could hear the pain in his friend's voice. "Bart, Brooke just told me what happened." Nathan nervously said. Bart just kept watching the TV screen. He pointed at the screen. "Duke's playing." Nathan looked at the screen. "Wouldn't it be great if that were us playing?" He smiled uncomfortably. "I guess." Bart coldly replied. "Bart are you all right man?" Bart sighed and turned the TV off. "No I'm not Nate and that's a pretty dumb question." Nathan felt his face turn red. "I'm sorry man, then how are you feeling what's going on inside of there?" Nathan pointed to Bart's heart. "I'm heartbroken, I don't know if I even can begin to explain how I feel." "Try B, it will make you feel better." "It's just" Bart paused for a while "she's the first girl I ever loved. The first girlfriend my first." Bart looked down. "The first one who made me feel like everything was perfect when she was in my arms. The first one who could make my heart almost burst out off my chest when I smelled her hair. When she kissed me, God I can't even find the words but most of all when she said 'I love you' I knew that she was the one." Bart felt a tear roll down his face when he said that last part.

Nathan knew exactly what he was talking about. He had been with allot of girls before Haley but for his heart she was the first one too.

"Do you still love her?" "Of course I still love her Nate. She's the only thing in this world that matters to me her and the baby." Bart said sincerely. "Well maybe you should forget about what happened." Bart looked shocked at him. "Bart I've seen you with her, she brings the best out in you man. You love her and it was Jake who kissed her. She was in a weird place at least she was honest and knowing Peyton she's regretting even letting Jake come in the house." "Maybe you're right Nate but loving each other doesn't erase what happened." "No it doesn't but it does make you overcome any obstacle you come across and you do it together." "How do you know that for sure?" "Because when I look at Haley I just know. Love just makes you overcome anything man." "Maybe you're right Nate, Eric's flying home tomorrow. I'll talk with Peyton tomorrow. " Bart smiled lightly and stood up. "I'll see you at practice tomorrow." Bart moved towards the door and left.

Larry Sawyer had just gotten home from work. He was looking forward to spending some time with his daughter. He had noticed that Bart's car wasn't on the driveway. He was happy about that, just the two of them. Like the old days even thought he didn't mind Bart being there. He liked his daughter's boyfriend. Bart made Peyton happy and Larry knew that he would treat her with the respect she deserves.

"Peyton I'm home!" He shouted as he searched rooms for his daughter. She wasn't downstairs so he made his way up the stairs. He walked into Peyton's room and was shocked to see her crying. "Peyton hunny what's wrong?" Larry took a seat next to his daughter. "I messed up and now I'm all alone with my ba..." Peyton bit her tongue. She was relieved to see that her dad didn't notice. "What did you do?" Larry said with a soothing voice. Peyton sighed, she knew that she had to tell her dad. She wished that Bart would be here with her. She was so afraid of losing him. "I can't tell you." Peyton felt her eyes tear up again. Larry put his arm around her. "You can tell me." Peyton looked down. "Dad, I'm pregnant." She silently said. Larry looked shocked at her.

"Are you sure?" He said with an unsteady voice. Peyton didn't look up to him and nodded. Larry hugged her. "It will be fine. Is that why you're alone? Bart left you because you're pregnant?" Larry felt a little angry. "No, well at first he did but he came back, he said that he was going to be there." "What do you mean; was?" "Well when I just told him he stormed out, I guess he freaked out and I don't blame him but I was so afraid that he wasn't coming back. Then Jake showed up." "Your ex?" Larry tried to keep up. "Yes, he wanted to be with me again. He said that he still loved me." Peyton paused. Larry didn't like where this was going. "And than he kissed me and I didn't stop him." Peyton felt a tear roll down her face. "I immediately regretted what I had done and I asked him to leave. I was feeling so guilty. The next morning I told Bart what had happened." Larry lifted her head up so he could see her face. "I guess he didn't take it well?" He asked compassionately. "No he didn't he said, he was flying home tomorrow." Peyton started to cry again.

Larry took her in a firm hug. "He was just upset. Give him time. I'm sure he won't go anywhere." "But what if he does. I'm so scared daddy." "Don't worry about it and if he does leave I will hunt him down and drag him back here." He felt her laugh a little. "But Peyton do you still feel something for this Jake fellow?" Peyton shook her head. "I still care about him but I don't love him if that's what you're asking." "And how are you so sure?" Larry was still holding his daughter in his arms. "Because I love Bart!" Larry tried to open up his mouth again but Peyton had read his mind and answered his next question. "Because I just do. When he holds me I feel safe, nothing can touch me. When he kisses me it's like fireworks. When he looks into my eyes and tells me that he loves me, my heart just melts." "I'm sure everything will work out and don't worry about Bart. I've seen him look at you, he's not going anywhere."

"Nathan how's Bart doing." Haley eagerly asked. "All right I guess, considering how much he's suffering. He was going to spend the day with his brother who has to leave tomorrow and after that he's going to talk with Peyton. " Everyone could see that Nathan felt really bad for Bart. "Luke I would like to go and talk to Jake, this has to stop." Nathan told his brother. "I was thinking the same Nate but we need to take it cool. I know Jake he wouldn't do this unless he still had strong feelings for Peyton." Lucas compassionately said. Nathan wasn't as compassionate as his brother. "Talk, punch. It's all the same to me." Haley looked shocked at him. "Nathan you're not going to beat up Jake!" "Hey I'm surprised Bart hasn't yet. If he tried that with you, I wouldn't know what I would do to him." "Let's just take it easy okay. You want to go right now?" Lucas asked, Nathan nodded. They kissed their girls and left.

"Eric I'm home!" Bart had just arrived at Andy's house. So much had happened the last couple of days that he was feeling guilty for leaving his brother alone. He saw that Eric was sitting on the couch playing videogames. "There you are. Haven't seen much of you lately big brother." "I'm sorry, I had allot on my mind." "What can be so important that you would neglect your own brother?" Eric said coldly. Bart sighed. "Some guy kissed Peyton." Bart hurtful said. Eric kept his attention on the TV screen. "Did she stop him?" "No she didn't but according to her it was a mistake." Eric shrugged his shoulders. "Dump her." He coolly said. "I can't do that because." Bart stopped. "Because?" "Because she's pregnant." Eric almost pulled the playstation off the table. "Pregnant?!" He shouted. Bart just nodded. "Does mom know?" Bart shook his head. "I'll tell her later, so you need to keep quiet." "Sure but don't take too long, you know how she gets when you keep secrets from her." "I know." "So what are you going to do?" Eric continued. "Today I'm going to spend some quality time with my little brother and tomorrow I'll talk with Peyton after I drop you off at the airport." Eric shook his head. "Dude you have to go talk with her now!" "Are you sure?" "Yeah Bart I am. You love her, you can't risk losing that." "All right I'll go, thanks Eric." "Whatever!" Eric continued playing.

Nathan and Lucas were waiting for Jake to open his door. "Remember Nathan, just talking." Nathan nodded and he turned his attention to the door as it opened. "I guess Bart has already been here to see you." Nathan said as he saw Jake's swollen up nose. Jake just nodded. "You deserved it man!" Nathan said bitter. Lucas gave him an angry look. "What? He did!" Nathan said childishly. "So are you guys here to finish the job?" Jake asked almost with fear in his voice. He knew that Nathan could have a very short fuse when it came to stuff like this. "No Jake, we just want to talk to you." "I'm listening." "Why do you keep doing this to yourself man?" Lucas asked trying not to offend anybody. "I don't know. I can't help the way I feel." "That's true you can't change what you feel but you can't force your feelings on people. Bart and Peyton love each other. They're expecting a child and you may have ruined that. That kid could have no father thanks to you. Just like Jenny has no mom. You don't want that to happen, right?" Lucas concluded. Jake looked down embarrassed. "I've never even thought of it like that. I was so consumed with my own feelings. That I didn't pay any attention to other people. Luke I'm sorry man." "You don't have to apologize to Lucas! Peyton and Bart should be on your apologizing list." Nathan coolly said. "You're right Nate." The three of them heard Jenny crying in the background. "I'm sorry guys, I need to go." Jake closed the door.

"See what you can achieve by talking Nathan?" Lucas playfully pointed his finger at his brother. Nathan shrugged his shoulders "I still can beat you up for pointing that thing at me." He said with a big grin on his face.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18: Love risks?

Peyton was home alone. Her dad had gone to the store. She was glad to have his support it meant so much to her that her father was behind her. She heard knocking on the door. She got up and figured it was her dad who needed help with the groceries. When she opened the door a big smile formed on her face. She saw Bart standing in front of her. He was smiling too and was holding a portable CD player. She tried to speak but Bart put his finger on her lips. He pressed play and she heard the instrumental version off All Green's; Let's stay together. She held her hands in front off her mouth when she saw him get on one knee, took her hand into his and started to sing (http://nl. ) :

_I, I'm so in love with you  
Whatever you w__ant to do  
Is all right with me  
Cause you make me feel so brand new  
And I want to spend my life with you  
_

_  
Since, since we've been together  
Loving you forever  
Is what I need  
Let me be the one you come running to  
I'll never be untrue  
_

_  
Let's, let's stay together  
Lovin' you whether, whether  
Times are good or bad, happy or sad  
_

_  
Whether times are good or bad, happy or sad  
_

_  
Why, why some people break up  
Then turn around and make up  
I just can't see_

_  
You'd never do that to me (__Normal voice: would you, baby)  
Staying around you is all I see  
Here's what I want us to do  
_

_  
Let's, we ought to stay together  
Loving you whether, whether  
Times are good or bad, happy or sad_

_Let's, stay together  
Loving you whether, whether  
Times are good or bad, happy or sad_

The CD stopped playing. Bart was still holding Peyton's hand. "Peyton I want you to know that I will always be there for you and I know you will do the same. You're my present, future my everything. I want us to grow old together, sit on our front porch with our children and grandchildren." Bart reached into his pocket and pulled out a loose ring. He didn't have any money for a real one so he got one out off a machine at the arcade. "Peyton Elisabeth Sawyer, will you give me you're hand in marriage?" Bart concluded, hopefully awaiting her answer.

Andy had been nervously waiting in his car. He had parked across the street from Karen's café. He saw that the lights were being turned off. He knew it was now or never. He got out off his car and was just in time as Karen closed the door behind her.

"Hey Karen." Andy nervously said. Karen turned around and was surprised to see him. "Oh hey Andy, what brings you here so late?" "I wanted some coffee but I guess I'm late." Andy lied. "Really?" Karen said sarcastically. Andy laughed. "It's that obvious huh?" Karen nodded and smiled. "Okay, here's the real story." Andy took a deep breath. "I've been thinking a lot about you lately and I was wondering if you want to go on a date with me?" Karen thought for a while. "Sure why not, sounds like fun." She said with a smile. Andy grinned "great I'll call you, okay?" Karen nodded. Andy got back in his car. This had been a big step for him. Karen was the first woman he asked out since his wife died.

Lucas was in the kitchen. He had been trying to bake cookies but always failed miserably. The whole kitchen was a mess. Flour here and sugar there but he had to make them. It was Brooke's birthday was in a week and he wanted to surprise her with something special. He had put another tray ready to go in to the oven, it was already his fifth. At times like these his mom was never home. What was it with mothers when you need them you can't find them and when you don't need them, they're always there. Lucas shrugged his shoulders at his thought and put his tray in the oven. Set his timer and moved towards the front door when he heard the doorbell ring.

"Brooke, what are you doing here?" Lucas looked quickly towards the kitchen and his cookies. "What? Not happy to see your girlfriend?" Brooke asked disappointed. Lucas looked at her with a smile. "Of course I'm happy to see you." He winked at her. "I'm just working on your birthday present and I want it to be a surprise." Brooke looked intrigued. "Hm, what could it be?" She said joyfully trying to look around Lucas. He cleverly blocked the doorway. "You'll have to wait pretty girl." He grinned. "Oh, fine. If I have to! So have you got a costume for next week?" Brooke had planned a costumed party for her birthday. "No, I haven't but I'm going shopping with Haley." "You should come as a life guard. Nothing but Speedo's" She said teasingly. He laughed a little. "I don't think so but I promise you're going to like it." "I'm sure I will." Lucas had closed the door behind him and they both took a seat on the front porch.

"Have you heard anything from Peyton yet?" Lucas asked. Brooke shook her head. "Nope and I don't really care. She shouldn't have done that to Bart." "Brooke it was a mistake. You shouldn't be so hard on her. I mean if Bart can forgive her so can you." "I guess you're right. I'll talk to her at school tomorrow." Lucas smiled and put his arm around her shoulder. "I love you Brooke." He looked into her beautiful eyes and saw them lit up. "I love you too Lucas." She grinned. He kissed her not realizing that his cookies were burning yet again.

"Hales I think I'm going by Dan's on friday." Haley had been leaning against her husband. Watching TV. "Are you sure?" She asked compassionately. She knew how hard this was for Nathan. "Yeah, I just want to get it over with you know." Haley nodded. "Will you come with me?" He childishly asked. "Why do you need me there?" Haley didn't want to deal with Dan especially not when he was in jail. "Because when I have you by my side, I feel invincible." He said almost heroic. Haley giggled. "Okay superman, I'll come with you." Nathan smiled. "You know you're my kryptonite." "So I'm killing you?" Haley said joke fully. "No you're the only thing that can touch me. Make me vulnerable." He hugged her. "I love you Hales." "I love you too superman." She giggled.

Peyton also got on the ground. She kept holding his hand and looked into his blue eyes. They seemed even more radiant than usual. "I wouldn't want anything more then to grow old with you." She smiled and felt a tear of happiness roll down her face. "Yes, I will marry you Bart Steven Vanhooi." Bart smiled and put his ring around her finger. "I'll get you a real one ASAP." He smiled embarrassed. Peyton shook her head. "No I like this one, it's more valuable then any diamond in the world." She hugged him. He kissed her passionately. "I love you!" He said looking at the ring on Peyton's finger. "I love you too." She pulled him in for another kiss.

She pulled back from him. "Just for the record you're a terrible singer." She smiled at him. "Really? I think I feel an encore coming on." He grinned. "Please god help me." "Oh, yes you've asked for it Blondie." He started to sing again. Peyton covered her ears. Bart smiled and moved towards her and kissed her, still humming his song.

"So does you're dad know that you're expecting?" Bart asked gasping for air. Peyton nodded. "How did he take it?" "Pretty well actually. He was really supportive." She said. "That's good. I just don't know how I'm going to tell my mom." He paused. "We have like a week off soon right?" Peyton nodded at him. "I think I'm going to fly to Amsterdam for a few days. I need to tell her this in person." "That sounds good, she deserves to know." Bart nodded. "I'm glad you understand.

"I know I'm being reparative but I love you Bart." He winked at her. "Ditto." She kissed him and tried to pull off his shirt. "What? You want twins or something?" Peyton smiled. "It doesn't work like that." "I know! I was trying to be sarcastic. God, is blond you're natural colour?" He teased. She stuck her tongue out at him. He smiled and stood up. Peyton did the same. He picked her up in his muscular arms and carried her up the stairs.


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19: Surprise!

It was Friday morning, Nathan and Haley had just arrived at jail. They were waiting for Dan to get into the visiting area. "Hales, I'm so glad you came with me." Nathan smiled at her nervously. "Don't even mention it. I love you Nathan and it would be wrong if I wasn't here." She quickly kissed Nathan. They stood up when a door opened. Dan entered the room. He was wearing an orange jumper and was handcuffed. He was accompanied by two guards. They sat him down and uncuffed him. Haley and Nathan also took a seat across from him. The guards walked out and locked the door behind them.

The three off them sat in silence for a while. Dan looked nervously at the ground and started to speak. "I'm glad you're here son." Nathan and Haley looked at each other, there was something different about Dan but they couldn't figure out what yet. "You too Haley." Dan continued. Now they were really suspicious. Dan had never liked Haley, he always told Nathan that she didn't deserved his son. "How have you been?" Dan was still looking at the ground. "We're fine." Nathan said quickly but in a polite tone. Dan looked up and nodded. "How about school and basketball?" The tension between them started to break. "School's alright and the Ravens have their first sate playoff game this Saturday. How are you Mr. Scott?" Dan's face cheered up a bit when Haley asked him that. "I'm alright considering I'm in jail but why are you here? After what I did I thought I wouldn't see you anymore." Dan was creeping Nathan out, he was being so sincere. "We have something to tell you dad." Haley looked a bit shocked at him, Nathan hadn't called Dan, dad since the whole Bart thing happened.

"I'm listening." "Well me and Haley are having a baby." Nathan was preparing himself for Dan's reaction but was surprised to see Dan smile. "How far along are you?" "About a month Mr. Scott." Dan thought for a while. "Could you do me favor son?" Nathan gave him a disgusted look. Dan was in no position to ask favors, he thought. "Just hear me out." Dan saw Nathan's reaction. "When the baby's born. Leave me out of it's life. I'm going to be in here for a long time and I don't want to face him/ her." "Okay dad now you're really creeping me out. Is this one of your acts again?" Nathan raised his voice. Dan shook his head. They could even see his eyes tear up a little. "I can assure you son, it's not. My time here has made me realize how wrong I was. I attacked a kid for Christ sake. I deserve to be here. I just wish I could have realized that sooner before it came to this." Nathan could see the remorse in his father's eyes, he calmed down. "I'm sorry Nathan for everything I ever did to you or your wife." Dan continued. "It's okay Mr. Scott." Haley compassionately laid her hand onto Dan's. Dan smiled. "Thank you Haley." He squeezed her hand softly. Haley was surprised how much Dan's hand felt like Nathan's. They felt rough from playing years of basketball. All the men she knew that played had the same feeling to their hands; Lucas, Bart, Skills.

"Dad if you seriously feel remorse for what you did then I want you to be a grandfather." Dan looked shocked at Nathan and so did Haley. "Do you mean that Nathan?" Dan asked hopefully. "We'll see, if you can show us that you mean what you just said. Then yeah." "Thank you son." Dan smiled. "Oh I had something else to tell you." Dan continued. "I'm selling the dealership and I want you and Lucas to split up the money." Nathan looked shocked. "Dad that dealership meant everything to you are you sure?" Dan nodded. "Being in here has made me realize that there are much more important things. The papers are ready to sign at my lawyer's office." "I don't know what to say dad." "Don't say anything but send me a picture when my grandchild is born." "Sure." "Oh and I also told my lawyer to have a piece of the money go to Bart." Nathan and Haley were yet again shocked. "I need to make things right. I know that money won't cut it but at least it's a start. If you could ask him to come by. I would like to apologize to him in person." Dan said sincerely. "I'll ask dad but I think it's going to take a while before he's ready." "I know son. I just hope I can have a chance to talk to him."

The guards came back into the room. "It's time to go Scott." Dan got up, the guard handcuffed him again. Dan turned around. "Oh and Nathan, win State okay." Dan said with a grin on his face. Nathan smiled and just nodded. "Bye Nathan, Haley." Dan walked out the room.

Nathan sighed. "Can you believe this?" He took Haley's hand into his. She shook her head. "I know it's great, right?" "Of course it is." Nathan stood up and pulled Haley in for a kiss. "I'm glad we did this." Nathan smiled at her.

Lucas had just walked into Brooke's bedroom. He saw her peacefully sleeping. He took of his coat and got into the bed next to her. He looked at her, she was even more beautiful in her sleep. He didn't even knew that was possible. He gently kissed her lips. "Happy birthday, pretty girl." He heard her moan as she slowly opened her eyes.

"Thank you." She stretched her arms and kissed Lucas. Lucas knew that Brooke wasn't really a 'morning person' but that wasn't the case today. She was already getting dressed. "That didn't take long." Lucas said almost in disbelieve. "Well it's a national holiday after all." She joked. "You consider your birthday a national holiday?" Lucas crooked his eyebrow at her. "What? You don't?" "Oh, Brooke a national holiday isn't even good enough to honor you." He said in a cheesy tone, grinning. "Aren't we the charmer today?" Brooke jumped on his lap. "It's so hard not to be when I'm around you." He smiled and felt the sweet taste of her lips on to his.

"Are you ready for your party?" Lucas brushed his hand through her hair. "I'm always ready for a party." Brooke said innocently. "I know maybe that was a dumb question. Close your eyes." Brooke gladly obeyed him. Lucas got up and grabbed a normal white box. On the cover was a big picture of him and Brooke kissing. Under the picture he had written; Romeo had Juliet, I have you Brooke Davis. He had put the box in front of her. "You can open your eyes, it's a small gift but I have more to come." Brooke opened her eyes and her jaw dropped. She opened the box and laughed. She saw cookies but most of them were burned. In the middle of the box was a small book. Brooke took the book out of the box and flipped through the pages. "It's a diary that I've kept these last few months but it's not a normal diary. I only wrote something on the days that I was with you and if I had one, pasted a picture of us beneath the text." Brooke looked at some of the pictures; there was one of her cheerleading, one of her sitting on his lap at the dinner she had organized for Bart and a bunch of others. On the last page it said; Just remember that I will always love you pretty girl! Brooke felt a tear of happiness roll down her cheek. "Lucas this is just perfect." She grabbed one of the none burned cookies and took a bite. "These are actually good." She said surprised. "Really? Let me taste." Lucas pulled Brooke in for a kiss.

Lucas and Brooke were driving to school with Brooke's car. Lucas was driving though he didn't want her to lift a single finger on her birthday. Brooke turned the radio down. "Have you heard anything from Bart?" Lucas shook his head. "I haven't heard from Peyton either." "Well I know that they made up but that's all he told me. After practice he grabs his bag and just leaves avoiding any form of conversation." "I know what you mean Peyton's been doing the same." Lucas shrugged his shoulders. "It's probably nothing." He parked the car and got out. "So I'll see you at lunch time?" Lucas took her into his arms. Brooke smiled. "Of course!" She quickly kissed him and got into he school building. Lucas watched her walk away and felt more in love then ever.

"I'm glad the party's tonight so we can tell everyone the big news." Bart was leaning against some lockers and watched his fiancée get some books out of hers. "I know, I hate avoiding Brooke and Haley." Bart nodded and looked at his watch. He cursed. "I'm going to be late. I'll see you later?" She nodded. He kissed her and walked away. "God I love his moneymaker." Peyton laughed at her own thought. She closed her locker and was shocked to suddenly see Brooke in front of her.

"Hi Brooke. Uhm happy birthday." Peyton tried to leave. Brooke grabbed her arm. "Not so fast P. Sawyer. Something's up with you two and I want to know what." Peyton blushed. "Okay I'll tell you but you have to promise not to tell anybody. Bart and I wanted to keep it a secret until your party." Brooke nodded. "Not a soul Peyton."

Peyton unhooked a necklace that had been under her shirt. Brooke's eyes widened when she saw what was dangling on the end. Peyton took a ring off it and slipped it onto her finger. "Peyton are you engaged?" Brooke asked still in shock. Peyton nodded with a big smile on her face. "Oh my god! I'm so happy for you!" Brooke hugged her. "I'm your made of honor right?" Peyton laughed. "Brooke that's like asking if the sky's blue. Of course you are." Brooke squealed. "This is the best birthday ever." She hugged Peyton again. Both girls walked to class.

"Hey man where have you been?" Nathan took a seat next to Bart in the cafeteria. Bart shrugged his shoulders. "Around." He hated lying to Nathan, his best friend. Every inch of his body was dying to tell him that he was engaged. "Come on B." "I can't Nathan. I promised Peyton I wouldn't tell." "Bart I can keep a secret." Bart sighed. "Okay but you don't tell anybody, not even Haley." "I swear." Nathan leaned in so Bart wouldn't have to talk that loud. "I'm engaged." Bart whispered, smiling. Nathan looked surprised. "Really?" He asked. Bart nodded. "That's great man." "Thanks Nate, I wanted to ask you something else though." "Shoot." "Will you be my best man?" "I would be honored." Both men smiled when Peyton and Brooke joined them.

"What are you two smiling about?" Peyton gave them a suspicious look. Bart and Nathan tried to make up something. "I just uhm, told Nathan what my costume's going to be tonight." They both exhaled in relief when Peyton nodded but she was still looking skeptical at Bart. "What is your costume anyway?" Bart had kept that a well hidden secret from Peyton. He shrugged his shoulders. "You'll have to wait and see Blondie."

The couple's happy chat was disturbed by a cough from Brooke. Bart and Nathan looked confused at Brooke when it suddenly hit them. "Happy birthday!" They both got up and gave her a quick hug. "You guys forgot didn't you?" "No, no Brooke we just pretended so you would be extra surprised." Nathan grinned. "Good safe man." Bart whispered in his ear. He nervously took a bite from his sandwich when he saw the angry look Brooke was giving them.

"Nate we've got history right?" Nathan nodded at Bart. "I think we should get going. We only got 5 minutes left." "I hate history." Nathan whined. The boys left. Bart quickly kissed Peyton and wished Brooke a happy birthday again. Nathan coolly winked at them.

"So what's your costume?" Nathan was curious. Bart shook his head. "Sorry best man same rule applies as for the fiancé." "Come on B." Bart laughed. "Dude I just told you that I'm engaged and for some reason you're still not satisfied. You'll have to suck it up."

"Hey Luke ready to go costume shopping?" Haley childishly asked. "Yeah." Lucas gave Haley a quick hug. Nathan nodded. "Hey Luke." "Nate." Lucas returned a nod. The threesome was walking through the mall. Haley was having a blast, she loved being with the two men who meant so much to her. "Let's get this over with." Nathan sighed. They had been going through some costumes but couldn't find anything to their liking until Nathan pulled out a Gomez Addams costume, from 'the Addams family'. "Hales I think I found it." He grinned. Haley chuckled. Nathan went into a cubicle and came back out as Gomez, fake moustache and everything. "How do I look?" He smiled confident. Lucas and Haley laughed. Nathan walked around and stopped when he passed Haley. "Cara Mia!" He grabbed her arm and started kissing it. Haley giggled. "Gomez stop." She joked. Nathan kissed her on the lips. "I'm taking it." "Well if you're going to be Gomez then I'm going as Morticia." Haley asked the store clerk if they had the costume and to her delight, the answer was yes. "Okay were settled, that still leaves you Luke." Lucas was still going true a wide selection off costumes. "I can't find anything Hales." Nathan and Haley helped him. "How about this one Luke?" Nathan asked. Lucas laughed. "I could go with that." He came out off the cubicle wearing a leprechaun costume. "Where's me pot of gold?!" He did a little weird dance. Nathan and Haley busted out in laughter. "Luke take it, it's so funny." Haley said in between laughs. Lucas nodded almost making his green hat fall off. "I will." He started laughing at his reflection in the mirror.

Nathan, Haley and Lucas pulled up to Andy's driveway. Nathan sounded the horn signaling Bart to come out. The three of them started laughing when they saw Bart approach. "Dude that's is your costume?" Nathan asked watching Bart fastening his seatbelt. "Yeah, don't I look hot?" He said with a sarcastic tone. "Sure you do." Nathan shook his head in disbelief as he pushed in the gas pedal.

Brooke's party had already been going on for about an hour. Lucas had pulled a few strings with his mom and she had agreed to have it at Tric. Brooke and Peyton were standing by the bar but still no sign of Lucas or Bart. Peyton was dressed as Sandy from the final scene of Grease. Brooke had dressed herself up as a princess. She knew it wasn't original but she just loved feeling like a princess.

Brooke started laughing. Peyton gave her a puzzled look and turned around. "Hey baby." Bart grinned at her. Peyton looked at him in shock. Bart was wearing a blonde curly wig and Peyton's cheerleading outfit. The shirt barely got over his chest, revealing his abs. "Hi, I'm Peyton Sawyer." He gave her a dumb look. She smacked him on the shoulder for that. He laughed. "So what do you think?" He turned around in a circle. Peyton smiled. "You actually look kind of hot but you should have shaved." She stroked her hand over his 5 o'clock shadow. "No I wanted it to look as real as possible." He joked. Peyton stuck her tongue out. He smiled and took her into his arms. "I feel so lesbian right now." Bart kissed her passionately.

"Hey pretty girl." Lucas hugged Brooke from behind. "Hey boyfriend, looking good." She frowned at him. "What not your idea of a knight in shiny armor?" Lucas teased. "No you look fine." Brooke smiled and gave him a quick peck on the lips. "Well I have another surprise for you." Lucas pulled out an envelope. Brooke took it from him and held it in front of a light, hoping to figure out what was in it. She quickly gave up and ripped it open. She was holding two plane tickets. "We're going to Venice?" She asked him. Lucas nodded with a big smile on his face. "Lucas this is to much, you can't afford this." "Don't worry about it. I know some people." He said with a smirk. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" She grabbed Lucas's collar and kissed him.

Brooke's party was a big hit. The party was still going. Karen had been working behind the bar, Deb was helping her. She smiled when she saw the kids dancing. It was a slow dance; Lucas was dancing with Brooke. She was glad that Lucas had finally found someone to love. She loved Brooke like a daughter and she knew that Brooke felt the same way. She snapped out of it when someone came up to the bar to order something.

"Hey Karen." Karen had to look twice at a man dressed like a hobbit. "Hey Andy!" she laughed. "You look great." She chuckled. "Yeah, Bart convinced me that adults had to be in costumes too." Andy looked nervously around but saw only kids dressed up. "I guess he lied. That's no food for a week." Andy said jokingly. Karen chuckled. "What can I get you Frodo?" Andy smiled. "How about a dance?" Karen blushed. "I gladly accept. Deb can you handle things for a minute?!" "Yeah sure Karen." Andy took her hand and lead her around the bar as they joined the rest on the dance floor.

Mouth had been watching the happy couples from the sidelines. He hadn't really been in touch with the rest this last week. Seeing Gigi cheat on him with Eric had wounded him more then he thought it would have. As if she had been reading his mind Gigi walked up to him. "Hey, mouth." She smiled nervously at him. "Gigi I'm not in the mood okay." Mouth turned away from her. "Mouth I'm sorry. It was a mistake." "Whatever Gigi, I don't really care. I just hope you had fun." Mouth said coolly. Gigi looked hurt at him. She wanted to say something but decided to keep quiet and walked away. Mouth sighed. "I need a drink."

Even though the slow music had stopped. Bart and Peyton were still in each others arms. "What's wrong?" Peyton asked. "Nothing, why?" "You are making a weird face." Peyton continued. "Oh" he shrugged his shoulders "just thinking about how much I love you." He grinned. "Hm, so how does it feel like to be a girl for an evening?" She teased. Bart smiled. "Oh it's great. I love the underwear, it's so soft!" Peyton started laughing but was disrupted by a kiss from Bart. "I think I'm going to make my round. I just want to tell everybody about us." Bart kissed her on her cheek and went down to her neck. "Bart don't." She giggled. Bart looked up at her with a big grin on his face. "Meet you back here at 01.00." He saluted her. "At ease private!" She commanded. He kissed her on the forehead and went off.

"Brooke can I borrow your boyfriend for a while?" Bart was standing in front of Brooke and Lucas. Brooke smiled. "Sure Peyton go right ahead." Bart laughed. "Thanks B. Davis." He winked at her. Bart and Lucas walked outside so they could talk in private.

"What's up Bart?" Lucas was wondering what was important enough to pull him away from his girlfriend on her birthday. "Yeah, sorry Luke for pulling you away from Brooke, but I won't take long." "Okay let's hear it." Lucas turned his full attention to Bart. Bart sighed. "Okay here goes; Peyton and I are engaged." Lucas crooked his eyebrow at him. "Seriously?" Bart nodded. "Well congratulations, I guess." "Something wrong Luke." "No, it's just you guys are so young." "I know Luke but she's the one!" Bart said. Luke smiled and thought of Brooke. "Okay man, thanks for telling me. So is that why you guys were acting so weird these last couple of days?" Bart nodded. "Yeah, we wanted a chance to tell everyone at once."

The guys were interrupted by a drunk Mouth. "Peyton and Lucas, that's a blast from the past." Mouth took another sip from a bottle. Bart and Lucas chuckled. "Mouth you must be really drunk, it's me Bart." Mouth leaned in to take a closer look. "Bart wow, you're really ugly as a girl." Mouth drank again. Lucas stood up and took his bottle away. "Okay Mouth I'm driving you home." Mouth put his arm around Lucas. "This guy, this guy's a true friend." Lucas laughed. "Okay buddy let's go. Bart tell Brooke I'll be right back." "Sure Luke. Bye Mouth." Mouth just mumbled something and staggered off.

"Nathan, Peyton just told me that she's getting married." Haley told Nathan in shock. Nathan shrugged his shoulders. "I already knew." Haley smacked him on the shoulder. "You knew and you didn't tell me." "I'm sorry Hales but Bart made me promise not to tell anybody not even my beautiful wife." Haley smiled. "You're lucky that you're such a sweet talker." Nathan laughed. "That was nothing but I'm going to spare you more corny lines." He took her in his arms. "No, I like your lines." Haley giggled. Nathan kissed her. Haley was still hazy from his kiss. "That was much better." She whispered and kissed him again.

"Hey girlfriend, I'm back." Lucas kissed her on the cheek. "It's about time. Is Mouth okay?" "Oh he'll be fine." Lucas took her in his arms. "So had a great birthday?" Brooke smiled. "It was amazing." Lucas looked at her intense. "What made it so amazing?" He asked. "I don't know; the music, presents, Peyton's engagement but most of al you." She looked into his eyes. "I'm glad you loved it." Lucas passionately kissed her.


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20: Reunited.

Some weeks had gone by. The Ravens had cruised through the playoffs and were playing the state finals in two weeks. Haley was already showing. Peyton felt her clothes getting smaller but when she wore something loose you couldn't tell that she was carrying too. Brooke had been counting the days for her trip to Venice with Lucas. She still had to wait until after graduation though. Which was getting closer and closer.

Peyton, Brooke and Haley were having some 'girl' time. They felt like they hadn't spent time with each other for ages. "So when's Bart coming home?" Haley asked Peyton. "He's coming home tonight. I have to pick him up at nine." "Have you heard anything from him?" Peyton shook her head. "Not a word Brooke but he's with his family, I don't really blame him." "Still Peyton one phone call never hurt anyone." "I know but he had missed his family so much and he has to tell his mom about us getting married and having a baby. I want him to have some space." Peyton sighed after her words. Even though Bart had only been gone for 3 days, she missed him more than anything.

"Speaking of babies." Haley continued with a big smile. "We're having a baby boy." Brooke and Peyton gasped for air. "That's great Hales. I'm so happy for you." Brooke gave her a hug. "So have you thought of any names yet?" Haley shook her head. "No, it's so hard to come up with a good one." "I know what you mean Haley. I've been thinking about that too." Peyton was still smiling. "Do you guys already know what you're going to have?" Haley asked. "The doctor wanted to tell me yesterday but I didn't want to know until Bart's back home." Brooke and Haley nodded. "That's maybe best."

"Bryant gets it, he goes for the fade away. He nails it. Lucas Scott couldn't have done it better himself." Lucas and Nathan laughed when they heard Mouth's commentaries for a Lakers vs. Spurs game. They always muted the TV when Mouth was with them. It gave him a chance to practice his skills and he would always make references to the Ravens' games. They liked it this way, wouldn't want to change it for anything in the world.

It was halftime and Nathan got up to get some drinks. He had just grabbed some soda bottles from the fridge when his cell phone started ringing. "Hello? Yeah this is Nathan Scott." Nathan listened to a man on the other side off the phone. He dropped his soda bottles. "Really?!" He stammered. "I can't believe it! Thank you! All right bye." Nathan turned his phone off and took a seat still in shock.

"Nathan is everything all right?" Lucas and Mouth came running in, reacting to the ruches Nathan was making. Nathan stared at them as if he had seen a ghost. "Nate, what's wrong? Is it Haley? The baby's all right, right?" Nathan smiled, both felt a bit relieved. " I got into Duke, Luke!" Nathan was smiling from ear to ear. Mouth's and Lucas' jaw dropped. "Seriously?" They asked simultaneous. Nathan nodded. "Full scholarship and everything." He added." "That's awesome man." Lucas and Mouth joined Nathan at the kitchen table. The three off them in shock. Lucas stood up, the others looked at him. "We need to celebrate!" "Sure what do you have in mind Luke?" Mouth asked. Lucas shrugged his shoulders. "First we need to get the girls and we'll go from there." "Sounds like a plan brother." Nathan stood up and playfully hit Lucas on the shoulder.

"Nathan what are you doing here?" Haley asked, surprised to see her husband. Nathan didn't answer her question and stormed in the kitchen towards her. He grabbed her in his arms and gave her a passionate kiss. She was finally able to free herself from his grip. "What was that for?" She asked while she gasped for air. Nathan gave her a smirk "I got into Duke Hales, I got it!" He still couldn't believe it. Haley started screaming and jumped around. When she settled down she jumped in his arms. "I can't believe it. I'm married to a Blue Devil." She proudly giggled and kissed Nathan.

Lucas coughed. "Are you two love birds done?" Brooke hit him on the shoulder and gave him an angry look. "Lucas let them, their in love." She said with a cheesy voice. Everyone crooked their eyebrow at her. "What? They are!" Haley smiled. "Yeah, we are." She gave Nathan a quick peck on the lips. "We need to celebrate!" She continued. "Way ahead of you!" Lucas pulled out a bottle of champagne. "Luke! Peyton and I can't drink that!" "Don't worry Hales, we thought of that. It's non alcoholic." Lucas replied proudly.

"Cheers!" they all clinked their glasses with each other. "This just doesn't taste the same." Brooke exclaimed swallowing her non alcoholic champagne down in disgust. Everyone laughed. "Stop laughing!" Brooke pouted. "That's okay pretty slash party girl." Lucas said kissing her. Brooke giggled.

The gang had been hanging out. Everything was finally falling into place.

"I need to go!" Peyton got up from her seat. "Bart's plane lands in 30 minutes." "Okay, need some company best friend?" "That would be great Brooke." Peyton grabbed her keys. "Bye everyone." "Peyton! Don't tell Bart I got into Duke. I would like to do that myself." "Okay, Nate. No problem, let's go Brooke." Peyton went through the door. Brooke quickly kissed Lucas and followed Peyton.

"Peyton calm down, you're making me nervous too." "I'm sorry Brooke, I've missed him that's all." "That may be but sit your scrawny ass down. Your twitching isn't helping anybody." Peyton sighed and took a seat next to Brooke. They sat in silence for a while and watched people loaded with suitcases pass them by. "I'm going to get some coffee. You want some P. Sawyer?" Peyton shook her head and started to nervously gaze through the crowd in hope of seeing a glance of Bart. Brooke had just disappeared in the distance when suddenly two hands covered her eyes.

"Guess who?" A familiar voice said. Peyton laughed. "Hm, who could it be?" she played along. "I'll give you a hint." The voice continued. "I'm someone you know very well. I'm extremely hot and have killer blue eyes. Oh I'm also someone who loves you more than anything in the world." "Well then you have to be my fiancé." Bart laughed. "That's correct,

you win a prize." Peyton giggled. "What is my…" her words were cut off by a sweet kiss that she had missed so much.

"Damn foreign guy, did you get even hotter?" Brooke interrupted the kissing couple. Bart released Peyton from his loving grip. Peyton looked at him for the first time since he had arrived. "Bart did you shave your hair?" She asked in shock. Bart rubbed over his head which was only covered with a few inches of hair. "Yeah, I wanted a new look. I was to lazy to go to a barber shop so I just shaved it off." "Well you look good." Peyton hugged him. Brooke made a sound of agreement. "Thanks, now let's get going. I can't wait to see everyone again." Bart grabbed his suitcase in one hand and Peyton's hand in the other.

"So how have you girls been doing?" Bart was sitting next to Peyton on the backseat. "Fine" Brooke kept concentrated on the road. "I've just really missed you." Peyton grabbed hold of his hand. Bart smiled. "And how's our boy doing?" he rubbed Peyton's stomach. Peyton giggled. "How do you know if it's going to be a boy?" Bart shrugged his shoulders. "It's simple Vanhooi genetics. My great grandfather only had brothers, Grandpa too, my dad also and me too." Bart smiled. "What if we have a girl?" "Then she's going to be daddy's little girl and I'll love her forever." "You just wait until she starts dating." "Oh, she can date. When I'm dead or to senile to remember." The girls laughed at his remark. Bart blushed, laid his head back and closed his eyes.

When Bart woke up again, he found himself in an empty car on Brooke's driveway. He rubbed his eyes, yawned and got out. He went inside and followed the noises coming from the kitchen. "There's my sleeping beauty." Peyton stood up and kissed him. "How long was I out?" Bart rubbed his eyes again. "About 2 hours." Peyton rubbed his back. "Hey everybody." Bart greeted everyone still sleep drunk. The rest said hi. "Where's Nathan?" he asked Haley. She pointed in the direction of the living room. "He's playing videogames." She replied, rolling her eyes. Bart smiled. "It's been a while since I've kicked his ass. I'll see you guys later."

Bart jumped next to Nathan on the couch and grabbed a controller. "Hey man." "Welcome home B." "Thanks." They both kept staring at the TV screen. "So how was the trip?" Nathan selected the Miami Heat, to play with. Bart sighed. "Not that great." He made some changes in his Phoenix Suns starting line up. The game was loading. "Want to talk about it?" Nathan asked. Bart shrugged his shoulders. "I first want to kick your ass, I missed beating you with this game." Nathan laughed. "All right hot shot, it's not because you shaved your head that you can get cocky." The game tipped off and they started pressing buttons as if they were possessed.

"Oh 103-85!" Bart shouted. "I hope your kid doesn't inherit your gaming skills." "Hey, you watch it man. I let you win." Nathan said. Bart laughed. "So you've been letting me win for almost 6 months now. Gee thanks Nate." He grinned. "You're lucky you're my friend and letting me be your best man or I would have punched your socks off." Nathan said sarcastically. "So what's stopping you Scott?" Bart hit him on the shoulder and did a Mohammed Ali impression. "Fly like a butterfly sting like a bee." He threw some punches in the air. Nathan busted out in laughter, Bart fell on the ground laughing. "I've missed this man. Just being idiots." Bart crawled back on the couch.

"Yeah me too, everything has been so hectic lately with Haley, the baby, school, basketball, Dad." Nathan bit his tongue when he saw Bart's reaction when he said 'Dad'. "You went to see Dan?" Nathan nodded. "Yeah I did. He seems genuinely sorry. He's even selling the dealership and giving the money to me, Lucas and get this he even wants you to have a share." Bart looked shocked at Nathan. "Why?" he stammered. "He wants to repay his damages. Bart I wouldn't be telling you this if I wasn't positive that Dan's trying to make things right." "I understand that he's your dad and you want to have a good relationship with him Nate but I can't forgive him. I'm sorry man." Bart sincerely said. "I understand B, just think about it. I'm going to visit him next weekend, just tag along." "I'll sleep on it Nate but I can't promise anything."

"Okay, thanks B. So tell me how was Amsterdam?" Nathan knew enough when he saw Bart's facial expression. "That bad huh?" Bart sighed. "Let's just say that mom wasn't too happy about the news I was bringing and by bad I mean; she kicked me out and ignored me for three days. I had to sleep at my grandpa's house." "Wow Bart I'm sorry man." "Thanks Nate but I'm sure she'll turn around. I did get to see my youngest brother play ball though." "Little B. How did he do?" "First of all his name's Frank and he was great. His game is nothing like mine. He's a natural shooter, I swear, his fade away is even better than Lucas'. But he needs to toughen up on defense. He gets pushed around too much." Bart concluded. "So how was life in Tree Hill while I was gone?"

Nathan shrugged his shoulders. "I'm having a son, got into Duke. The usual." Bart looked shocked at him. "You're having a boy? Congratulations and Duke, dude you're the luckiest guy I know." They looked nervously at each other and then gave each other a quick hug. They brushed off their shirts and looked embarrassed. "So uh" Nathan coughed "great videogame huh?" He said with a low manly voice. "Yeah it's awesome and you know what's also great?" Bart asked in the same low tone as Nathan. "No, what?" "Girls and lots of them!" They both laughed. "What do you say Nate one more game and then join the rest in the kitchen?" "Sounds like a plan B." They grabbed their controllers again and got into their possessed gaming mode.

"Ah, the lost sons return!" Lucas shouted when Bart and Nathan came back into the kitchen. "Hey, you guys know how much I love videogames!" Nathan childishly replied. He took a seat next to Haley. "And you guys know how much I love beating Nathan at it." Bart said with a grin on his face. "Hey you got lucky man!" "Sure Nate, 103-85 and 95-52 was lucky." Bart laughed. "Ouch, that's got to hurt little brother." Lucas was laughing too. "I can still kick your ass at it" Nathan bitterly replied. "Okay, okay boys will be boys but this is enough." Haley interrupted. The three young men rolled their eyes at her. "Sure Hales we'll calm down. Eventhough I own the Scott boys." Bart proudly said. "How do you know that man? You haven't played against me yet." Lucas asked. "No offense Luke but if even Nathan can beat you, you don't form a challenge." "I said enough!" Haley shouted. Bart listened, he knew better then to annoy a pregnant woman. "Sorry Hales."

"I'm so glad to be back with you." Bart was lying next to Peyton in his bed. Peyton smiled. "I'm glad that you're back too." Bart grinned. "So have you been to the doctor lately?" Peyton nodded. "I did, she said that everything's going well. She can tell us the sex of the baby next time." "Really? God, I can't wait. Have you thought of any names yet?" Bart wiped some hair out of her face. She smiled. "Not really, you?" "Well for a boy I was thinking of Peter, that's my grandpa's name too and he has always meant alot to me." "I like Peter and for a girl?" Bart shrugged his shoulders "I haven't thought of anything yet for a girl." Peyton smiled. "We have some time left. We'll find something."

Bart kept gazing into her eyes. "I love you so much Peyton." "I know and I love you too." She grinned. "I mean you're in my heart, so deep in my heart that you're actually a part of me." He held his hand over his heart. Peyton moved her hand onto his. She grabbed hold of it and laid it onto her heart. "You're also a part of me." She said, still looking into his eyes. He smiled and started kissing her passionately.

9


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21: I love this game.

The entire Ravens team was sitting on the school bus. They were about to leave for the first state finals game of Tree Hill High in almost 2 decades. Bart was in the back of the bus sitting alone. The seat next to him was sacred to everyone else in the bus. After all it was the seat of Nathan Scott, their captain and team leader. Bart was staring out of the window when finally Nathan came onto the bus. Nathan gazed at his teammates. "Whatever happens tonight guys, it has been an honor to play with you but if it's all right with you guys I would like to come home as state champions!" The rest of the team started clapping and shouting. "Whitey is coming on the bus in about 5 minutes, so everyone get your MP3 players out because we all know Whitey's taste in music sucks." Nathan gave them a smirk and took his 'sacred' seat next to Bart.

"You ready man?" He asked Bart. "I think so." Bart carefully said. He gave Nathan a weak smile and started to go through his bag. Nathan was watching his best friend and couldn't figure out what was up with him. Bart pulled out an envelope and handed it to Nathan. "This came for me in the mail this morning." Nathan looked over the envelope he was holding. A smile formed on his face when he saw the emblem that was pictured in the right top corner. He knew that emblem all to well, after all he would be wearing it through out his college years. "A letter from Duke?" Nathan asked. Stroking his hand over the pictured Blue Devil. Bart nodded. "So, did you get in?" Nathan eagerly asked. "I don't know, I've been to chicken to open it." Bart admitted. "Can I?" Nathan asked, after half opening the letter already. "By all means, go ahead." Nathan ripped open the envelope and started to read the letter. His smile faded and Bart feared the worst. "That's a negative right?" Bart asked feeling his heart break. Nathan shook his head and looked up with a huge smile. "You got in man!" "What?!" Bart screamed making the entire bus look at them. He snatched the letter out of Nathan's hands and read it. A smile formed on his face too. "I got in! I got in!" He jumped up from his seat, bumping his head on the sealing of the bus. The entire bus laughed but stopped when they saw the look Nathan was giving them. "What's going on?" Lucas was sitting in front of Nathan and Bart. He had turned his head and was giving the two best friends a puzzled look. "I got into Duke, Luke!" Bart was now shouting through the entire bus. Putting his hand onto his head when finally the pain of banging his head kicked in. The entire bus was cheering and clapping.

"What the hell is all this ruches about?!" Whitey looked sternly at them. "Coach, Bart got into Duke!" Tim yelled. Whitey smiled. "Congratulations son. I knew you could do it!" "Thanks coach!" Bart shouted. Whitey's smile faded and made way for his stern look again. He pulled out a CD, out of his bag and waved it around. The entire team sighed, they knew he had probably picked out an opera or something. Bart and Nathan looked around and saw that already half of the team had their MP3 player's earplugs in. Whitey moved towards the bus radio with a big grin on his face. He popped the CD in and the team couldn't believe what they were hearing. Everybody started to get onto their feet and applauding to Whitey on the beats of the Wutang Clan but when everybody started to get into the mood Whitey turned off the CD and smiled. "You fellas liked that huh?" The team made sounds of agreement. "Well win state and you can hear it the whole ride home." Whitey and the bus driver started laughing, the team sat back down in disappointment. "Common coach that's not fair." Tim childishly shouted. "I decide what's fair and what's not. Now sit your ass down." Whitey sternly replied. Tim obeyed. Whitey had put in another CD and now his normal opera was busting out of the speakers. The team rolled their eyes and put on their own music except for Bart and Nathan.

Bart was reading through his letter again and again. "I still can't believe it." He smiled at Nathan, Nathan returned the favor. "Remember what I told you halfway through the season?" He asked Bart. Bart nodded. "I sure do!" He confidently said. Nathan held out his fist. "N and B making it in the big leagues!" Bart joined fists with him. "N and B in the big leagues." He laughed. Nathan did the same, grabbed his iPod and started listening to his music. Bart stared out of the window and grabbed his cell.

Haley, Peyton and Brooke were sitting in the car. They were accompanied by Mouth and were waiting behind the team bus. They had seen that there had already been some commotion on the bus but they couldn't figure out what it was about.

"Is the cheer squad ready for their state championship?" Mouth asked trying to break the silence. "What do you think!" Brooke replied confidently. Mouth laughed. "I'm afraid that I have to sit this one out." Haley smiled and rubbed over her stomach. "Okay, Tutorgirl your relieved from your duties." Brooke said with a smile. Turning her key's when she saw the bus in front of her move. "So P. Sawyer how's everything going with you and the foreign hunk?" Brooke asked keeping her attention on the road and bus. "Oh, everything's been amazing. We've got a doctor's appointment tomorrow to find out if the baby's a boy or a girl. Bart's convinced that were having a boy." She smiled. "But there's just one thing that has been bothering me." She continued. "Which is?" Haley asked. "Well his mom wasn't too happy about us. She has been avoiding any form of contact with him. He says everything's fine but I can see that it's really bothering him." "He will be fine and his mom will turn around, trust me." Brooke reassured her. Brooke had just said her words when Peyton's cell phone started ringing.

"Hello?" Peyton said through her phone. "Hey Blondie, it's your hot fiancé." Peyton smiled. "Hey hot fiancé, what's wrong? Miss me already?" She heard Bart chuckle on the other side. "Of course I miss you, you're a part of me, remember?" Peyton smiled. "Of course I remember. So what's up?" "Well I have some amazing news." She heard Bart keep quiet for a while. "I got into Duke, Peyton! I got in!" Peyton tried to gasp for air. Everyone else in the car raised their eyebrows at her. "What? How do you know?" Peyton stammered. "I got a letter in the mail this morning. It was from Duke but I was to afraid too open it but I just did and I got in baby, full scholarship, the works." "Bart, babe that's awesome! I wish I was on that bus so I could kiss you." "I wish you were here too. I got to go Whitey's giving me an angry look." "Okay bye, Bart." "Oh and Peyton!" "Yeah?" "Say hello to our kid okay?" Peyton smiled. "Okay hunny." She closed her phone and put it back into her pocket.

"Well?" Haley, Brooke and Mouth asked at the same time. "Well what?" Peyton asked kind of clueless. "Well what did he say?" Brooke asked eagerly. "Oh, he just called to tell me he got into Duke." Brooke and Haley started screaming. "Really?" Mouth asked rather cool. Peyton just nodded. "I'm so happy for you guys." Brooke smiled. "Thanks Brooke. Oh I almost forgot." Peyton put her hand on her stomach and bended over. "Your daddy says hi." She told her own stomach. Haley giggled at the sight. "That's so cute." Peyton blushed a little. "Thanks Hales."

**The Ravens were nervously** sitting in the locker room. They could already hear that the gym was filling up nicely for the state final. Whitey was doing his usual routine of walking up and down the locker room.

"I don't think I have to tell you knuckleheads" Whitey paused for a while and looked at Tim "how important this game is." He continued. "Nathan, Bart just because you've got into college doesn't mean you can slack off tonight." Bart and Nathan looked shocked at Whitey. "Off course we won't coach." Nathan replied almost insulted. Bart nodded in agreement. "Okay, so you will probably know that it will be the same old story like in every game we've played before. Bart and Nathan expect alot of pressure, they're probably going to make it a rough and dirty game so watch your asses out there. Lucas I need you to put pressure on the ball carrier together with Skills. Now this means that they're going to have an open guy. The first pass is for you Nathan, then everyone just takes their guy and make it hard for them to pass around. Now go out there and win me a championship!" He concluded.

"Good evening ladies and gentlemen. Welcome, I'm Marvin 'Mouth' McFadden coming to you live from the state finals between the Tree Hill Ravens and the Wilmington Hawks. The crowd is taking their seats, excitingly waiting for the tip off and here come the Ravens led by their two top scorers; Nathan Scott and Bart Vanhooi, they both recently got accepted into Duke and will be playing together as Blue Devils next season. Both teams are warming up as we wait for the opening tip off."

Bart, Nathan and Lucas were stretching and watching the other team. "Those guys don't look that good." Nathan confidently said. "Well they got into the state finals for a reason so we shouldn't judge them on appearance." Lucas replied. "Man, that #17 has been checking Peyton out all evening." Bart said, keeping his eye on an muscular build 6.8 player. "Jealous?" Nathan asked with a grin. "Of course I'm jealous, what if that was Haley." Bart replied quickly. "I guess you're right B. Let's just do what we do every night." "Which is?" Lucas crooked his eyebrows at his brother. Nathan smirked. "Kick their asses, what else?"

The referees blew their whistles, signaling that the game was going to start in three minutes. The Ravens' gathered around Whitey again. "Okay men, you know what to do. Play your hearts out and remember to enjoy this okay!" They laid their hands on top of each other. "Go Ravens!"

Bart and Nathan were walking nervously towards the center of the court. "Nate I've got a proposal for you." Nathan looked skeptical at him. "Which is?" he asked. Bart sighed. "If we win this thing, I'm coming with you, next time you're visiting Dan." A smile formed on Nathan's face. "So basically you're coming with me because we are going to win!" He said confidently. Bart smiled. "I guess you're right." Both men smiled and got ready for the tip off.

Mouth through his microphone: "Here comes the opening tip off and we're under way. The Ravens are in their defensive end. The Hawks are building on their first offence. They pass it inside to #17, Kevin Hudson who's being guarded by Bart Vanhooi. Hudson fakes to the left goes to the right, he takes his jump shot. Oh he gets blocked by Vanhooi! The crowd liked that one. Nathan Scott has the ball, he's wide open on the three point line. He fires it away and nails it. That's 3-0 for the Ravens."

It was halftime and the game was close, with a small lead for the Ravens. 31-29

"Okay men you're doing good so far. Now for the third quarter I want to see full court pressure from everyone. Keep giving the ball inside to Bart, that #17 can't hold him so make use of that. Their defense around the three point line is weak so keep looking for that open shot." Whitey concluded.

The third quarter was halfway and the Ravens were dominating, the score was 46-32. Bart and Nathan were untouchable in offence and were keeping their opponent out of the game in defense. # 17 of the Hawks was defending on Bart and getting more frustrated by the second when Bart yet again dunked on him, his fuses popped. He ran up the court for their offence. Bart wasn't giving him an inch. He received the ball looked around, threw his elbow right in Bart's face and made an easy lay up. Bart fell to the ground his eye already swelling from the hit he had just received.

Andy jumped up from his seat. "That was intentional. Vengeance, I demand vengeance!" He screamed. Karen looked almost afraid at him. "Andy calm down." Andy sat back down, his face turned a little red when he saw Karen's expression. "I'm sorry Karen but that's my boy you know." Karen smiled "I know Andy but calm down, see he's already getting up." She reassured him.

"Hey are you all right man?" Nathan offered Bart his hand. "Yeah I'll be fine." Bart grabbed it and stood up again. "What an SOB." Bart looked at #17 who was giving him an arrogant smirk. "Bart take it easy okay, no need to get mad." Nathan tried to calm his friend down. "Oh, I'm calm Nate. Just throw it up there. I have the perfect answer." Nathan could see the fire burning in Bart's eyes.

Skills was caring the ball up the court. He passed it to Nathan, Nathan started dribbling and kept his eye on Bart. Bart shook off his defender, when Nathan threw it up towards the basket.

"Oh, alley oop slam dunk by Vanhooi! What a wonderful assist by Nathan Scott!" Mouth screamed through his mike.

"There are only 5 minutes left and the score is 72- 51 for the Ravens. It looks like the Ravens will win the state championship." Mouth was still commenting the game his excitement grew with every minute that passed.

"5 seconds left, it's in the bag people. Wait Vanooi steals the ball at center court. He throws it up." Mouth, together with the crowd looked in awe at the ball going towards the basket. "It's going, going. He hits it! I can't believe it! What a fitting ending to an amazing game and there goes the buzzer. The Ravens have won the state champions, bring out the champagne ladies and gentlemen!" Mouth screamed hysterically. "Final score 85-57. Top scorers; Bart Vanhooi: 24, Nathan Scott: 22, Lucas Scott: 14. I'm Mouth McFadden coming to you for the last time. It' been a great season, thanks for listening."

Everyone was celebrating. Bart grabbed Nathan by the arm and gave him a grin and then looked over to Whitey who was just sitting on the bench. Nathan knew immediately what Bart was thinking and nodded. Before Whitey even realized it he was sitting on Bart and Nathan's shoulders. Doing a victory lap. Whitey was smiling and just enjoyed his ride, receiving high fives from everyone they passed. They put Whitey back down and saw that he was really touched by the moment. "Coach you're not going to start crying are you?" Nathan asked with a smile on his face. Whitey's stern look returned again, followed by a smile. "Just because you've won state, doesn't mean you can get smart with me, Scott." Bart and Nathan grinned. "Now go celebrate with your teammates you've earned it!" They both gave him a smirk and joined their team again.

The Ravens were celebrating on the court. Everyone was hugging each other and congratulating everybody. Bart looked around for Peyton, when he spotted her.

"So what do you say beautiful want to get out of here?" Kevin Hudson (#17) asked with an arrogant smirk, which seemed to be his only facial expression. Peyton looked annoyed at him when she felt someone grab her arm and turn her around. She was surprised to feel lips onto hers but when she recognized the sweet taste that was coming from them she put her arms around Bart's neck and passionately kissed him back. Bart released from her kiss and gave the same arrogant smirk Kevin was giving them. "Sorry man, she only kisses champions." Bart said grinning. Peyton smiled "I sure do!" Kevin shook his head at the happy couple and left. "Hm, he doesn't seem too happy." Bart said joyfully. Peyton laughed. "Well how would you feel if you didn't have a chance with a pretty girl like me?" She smiled at him. "You're not that pretty." He teased. Peyton's jaw dropped. "Bart Vanhooi, you didn't just say that." She was giving him a stern look. Bart grinned "I love you" he replied. Peyton smiled "ditto". Bart gently put his hands on her cheeks and guided her lips towards his.

Nathan grabbed Haley from behind. She was a little startled at first but recognized the arms embracing her. "We did it Hales." Nathan whispered in her ear. She turned around and saw a smiling Nathan. "We sure did." She replied but she couldn't help to feel a little sad. "What's wrong?" Nathan could always sense when something was troubling her. "Nothing big it's just I wish I could have been on the court, with the girls. Cheering you guys on." She smiled weakly. Nathan put his hand on her cheek and looked into her eyes. "Hales I don't need you in a cheerleading costume. You are always with me on that court, you're my inspiration. The love of my life. Always and forever, remember?" He concluded. Haley smiled "always and forever." Nathan smiled back at her, moved her face towards his and gave her a passionate kiss.

"So how did I do pretty girl?" Lucas was holding Brooke in his arms. "You were all right, I guess." She teased. Lucas chuckled. "Well maybe I can redeem myself?" He grinned at her. "I don't know, it will have to be something really special." She gave him a mischievous look. Lucas looked her in the eyes and kissed her for only 5 seconds and looked back into her eyes. "Perfect" she whispered. Lucas smiled and kissed her with intense passion.

10


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22: Setback

Bart slowly opened his eyes when the first rays of sunlight started to fill up his room. A smile formed on his face when he felt the warmth of Peyton lying on his bare chest. He stared at her for a few minutes thinking about how much he loved her and this afternoon he would finally find out the sex of his baby. His happy thoughts quickly faded when he remembered his promise to Nathan. Today he had to visit the only negative person during his stay in America: Dan Scott. He did hope that he could find it in his heart to forgive him; Dan was the only sore spot on his friendship with Nathan; his best man.

He slowly tried to get out of bed with out waking Peyton. He froze up for a moment when he heard her moan but was glad to see that she continued sleeping. He made his way through the clothes that were scattered around the floor. He picked up Peyton's and laid them on a chair. He threw his own into the laundry bin and grabbed some comfortable clothes out of his closet.

He hopped down the stairs and found Andy in the kitchen making breakfast. "Now what's a millionaire like you doing making breakfast?" Bart took a seat at the kitchen table, chuckling at his own remark. Andy looked nervously at him. "Bart, what are you doing awake?" "Well good morning to you too." Bart grabbed a bagel and just smiled. "Oh, sorry I didn't mean it like that it's just." Andy bit his tongue and looked in the direction of the bathroom. Bart noticed that Andy wasn't acting like himself when he heard the toilet flush. He grinned. "Andy Hargrove, did you hook up with someone last night?" Andy nervously looked at the ground. When they heard the bathroom door open Bart got up from his seat. "I've got to meet this girl!" He grinned.

Bart had just gotten up but sat immediately back down in shock. "Karen?" Karen came into the kitchen wearing one of Andy's shirt's. She stood frozen solid when she saw Bart staring at her. "Oh, um hey Bart." She stammered. Bart looked at Andy who had the same weird look on his face as Karen. When Bart finally had processed the shock he smiled. "So you guys are an item?" He grinned. Andy and Karen chuckled. "I guess we are." Karen moved towards Andy and gave him a peck on the cheek. They both smiled at each other. "That's good, for what it's worth I'm happy for you guys." Andy smiled "thanks Bart." He turned and took his frying pan of the stove. "Fried eggs anyone?" He asked cheerfully.

Everyone was enjoying their breakfast when Peyton walked in. She still looked sleep drunk and her hear was sticking in every direction. She was shocked to see Karen sitting at the kitchen table. "Peyton, baby meet Tree Hill's hottest new couple: Andy Hargrove and Karen Roe." Bart said grinning. Peyton greeted everyone uncomfortably and took a seat next to her fiancé, who quickly gave her a kiss.

Karen could see that Peyton was a little uncomfortable with the situation. "Now that you two know that me and Andy are seeing each other I would really appreciate it if you could not tell Lucas." She smiled at Andy. "We would like to do that together." She grabbed Andy's hand and smiled. Peyton nodded. "Sure Karen, our lips are sealed."

Bart was sitting in Nathan's car both young men were still in denial about winning state until Bart opened up the paper he had brought with him. He looked at the picture of him, Nathan, Lucas and Skills. He couldn't help but to feel a little sad. This was the last game he had played with his friends except for Nathan. A smile formed on his face when he saw Tim playing on his PSP in the background. "What an idiot." Bart said. Nathan gave him a weird look but immediately turned his attention back on the road. "I mean" Bart continued "here we are on the greatest day of our young lives and that knucklehead is playing videogames." Nathan chuckled. "B, its Tim. Enough said." "I guess you're right Nate."

Bart kept reading through the sports pages when he came upon an article named, 'Ravens evolve into Blue Devils.' "There's an article about us getting into Duke." Bart looked at the pictures next to the text. "Damn Nate you photograph badly." Bart grinned. "What? Dude I'm a Scott. You can't take bad pictures of us." Nathan gave him his famous smirk. "Okay, superstar. You've made your point." Bart rolled his eyes.

They had just parked their car when Lucas arrived. "Hey Luke, what are you doing here man?" Nathan asked surprised to see his brother. "To be honest Nate I don't know. I haven't seen Dan since everything happened and I just want to get it over with. Who better to go with then my brother and one of my closest friends." Bart nodded. "You know it wouldn't hurt to have someone extra here, you know for moral support." Nathan laughed a little. "You two are such girls." His smile quickly faded when he saw Bart and Lucas' reaction.

The three of them were nervously anticipating Dan's arrival. Well two, visiting Dan had already gotten to be a routine to Nathan. Nathan heard Bart and Lucas make some uncomfortable sounds when the door opened and Dan entered. Dan looked shocked at them and took his seat.

"Son, I thought you were coming alone?" He asked Nathan nervously, looking at the ground. "Yeah, sorry dad but Lucas and Bart decided to tag along. That's alright, right?" Nathan asked hoping his efforts to get his brother and friend to visit weren't in vane. "Sure it is Nathan it's just a little unexpected that's all. I'm glad that the three of you are here." Lucas and Bart looked each other and thought the same. Nathan hadn't been lying about the change that Dan had gone through they could hear and see it from the moment he had opened his mouth. Nathan tried to break the tension a little and gave Dan the paper Bart had bought. "We won state dad." Nathan said proudly as a kid who had just gotten his first A. Dan looked over the article in the paper. A smile formed on his face. "Congratulation, to the three of you this is great." Dan flipped through the sports pages to read some more in depth analysis's of the game when he stopped about halfway through. "Nathan did you get into Duke?" Nathan smiled and nodded proudly. "That's great, you did it!" Dan's smile quickly faded for a hurtful expression. "This makes me feel even more guilty over what I did." Dan looked at Bart who seemed a little too nervous and uncomfortable with the whole situation. "Bart, I don't know how to tell you, how sorry I really am. This also goes for you Lucas. I was someone who thought only of himself and when I did do something for somebody else, I ended up causing alot more pain. I'm just sorry and I know it won't be this easy for you two to suddenly think different of me but I hope I can have a chance to prove that I'm being sincere." Dan concluded and nervously awaited Bart and Lucas' reaction.

Then Bart started talking. "Mr. Scott I hope you understand that this isn't easy for me, even being here is already a huge deal for me. I don't forgive you" he paused "but I am willing to give you a chance and prove that you really feel remorse for what you did." Bart sighed after his words. A weak smile formed on Dan's face. "I understand Bart that you're not ready yet to forgive me but I'm glad to know that I still have a shot to redeem myself." Dan turned his attention to Lucas. "What about you Lucas?" Lucas grinned. "No!" Everyone looked puzzled at him. "Hell no! Is that more clear!?" Lucas stood up and made his way to the door. "Luke wait!" Nathan shouted. "Let him go son, he needs time. I respect that." Lucas started laughing. "Cut the crap Dan, I can't believe you guys are falling for this." Lucas shook his head and stormed out. Lucas had just left when a guard walked back in signaling Dan it was time to go. Dan got up. "Thanks for coming, both of you and let Lucas be, he needs to find his own path." They both nodded and Dan left.

"That wasn't so bad." Bart sighed and looked at Nathan. Nathan just nodded. "Let's get out of here, prisons give me the creeps." Bart smiled weakly and they both went on their way.

"Bart, we need to go man, now!" Lucas screamed hysterically when he saw Nathan and Bart coming out of the prison. He grabbed hold of Bart's arm and tried to drag him to the cars. "Wow Luke calm down, what's going on?" Bart released himself from Lucas' grip and looked puzzled at him. Lucas sighed "I just got a call from Brooke." Lucas paused. "And?" Nathan joined in on the conversation. "It's Peyton, she's at the hospital!" Lucas continued. "What? Is she all right?" Bart asked hysterically. "I don't know B, Brooke just said we had to get our asses over there!" Both Nathan and Bart nodded and got in their car as quick as possible.

Nathan and Bart had just arrived at the hospital. Lucas was going to pick up Haley first and then come too. They ran through the hospital in search of Peyton when they came across Brooke, who was crying in the waiting area. "Brooke!" Nathan shouted as they got closer. Brooke stood up and tried to hold her tears back. "Brooke what happened?" Bart asked, afraid. Brooke shook her head. "I don't know we were just having some lunch doing our usual gossiping routine when she just started screaming in pain and passed out. I called 911 and the paramedics took her to the hospital. I tried to call but I always got your answering machine. I was so glad to finally get in touch with Lucas." Brooke started sobbing again. Nathan took her in his arms and tried to comfort her. "So what's wrong with her?" Bart asked. "I don't know, nobody has told me anything since I've got here." Brooke held her head against Nathan's shoulder again. Bart took a seat and just looked down at the ground. How could this be happening just when everything seemed to be going right in his life this happens. He shook of his thoughts when he saw a doctor approach them.

"Who's here for Peyton Sawyer?" Bart stood up. "I am sir." "And may I ask what your relationship with her is?" The doctor asked a little uncomfortable when he saw Bart's tall body move in front of him. "I'm her fiancé. Please tell me what's wrong with her?" The doctor kept quite for a while and looked at Bart. "I'm terribly sorry sir," Bart felt his heart break. "but your fiancé had a miscarriage." "No, no doctor please that can't be." Bart stuttered in disbelief. "I'm sorry sir but your baby girl didn't make it." Bart felt a tear roll down his cheek. "Can I see Peyton?" He asked hurtfully. "Not now she still has to wake up but we'll get you when she is." "Okay, doctor." The doctor nodded and left again. Bart took a seat again and just stared at the ground.

Nathan and Brooke had been watching from a distance because the doctor wanted to talk to Bart in private. From Bart's reaction they knew it wasn't good news.

Brooke took a seat next to him and so did Nathan. Bart had his hands over his face. "Bart what's wrong?" Brooke gently stroked his back. He looked up at Brooke. "We lost the girl, we lost our baby girl Brooke." Bart started sobbing. Brooke and Nathan joined him at watching the floor neither of them could find the words to comfort him. "Why do these things keep happening to me? When some guy isn't bashing my skull, another kisses the woman I love and now this. I must have really been a terrible person in a previous life or something because I just don't get it." Brooke took him in her arms. "Shush, it will be alright, you guys love each other you'll make it through this."

Lucas and Haley had just arrived, when they saw the faces of everyone sitting in the waiting room, they knew that this was bad. "Bart how is she?" Haley asked carefully. "I'm sorry Hales I, I just need a walk or something. You guys call me when we can visit her." "Bart where are you going?" Nathan stood up trying to keep his friend close. "I'm just going for a walk through the hospital. I need to clear my head." Nathan nodded. "We'll call you when's we know more." "Thanks Nate."

"I understand this isn't good?" Lucas asked when Bart was out of his sight. Brooke and Nathan sighed. "They lost the baby." Nathan finally said. Lucas and Haley just looked at them in shock. There was a weird vibe in the room for a while when finally Haley started talking again. "Is Peyton alright?" Nathan and Brooke just nodded.

Now al four of them were sitting down in disbelief, when a nurse approached them. "You can visit Miss Sawyer, she's awake and alert." "Thank you." Brooke said and the nurse went of again.

"Nathan call Bart, I'm going to see her." Brooke stood up while Nathan got out his cell.

Brooke took a deep breath when she opened the door. She saw a pale Peyton staring out of the window. "Hey Peyton." Brooke said silently. Peyton just kept staring out of the window. Brooke took a seat beside her bed. "We were having a girl Brooke, a baby girl and now she's gone." Brooke saw a tear roll down Peyton's face. Brooke grabbed hold of her hand. They both looked up when they heard a knock on the door. When she saw Bart enter, Brooke stood up. "I'll give you guys some privacy." She made her way to the door and gave Bart a quick hug.

Bart moved towards the bed, his face said more than words could ever say. Peyton looked down and was afraid to look at him. She felt her eyes water up. "I don't deserve you." Peyton kept looking down. "What are you talking about?" Bart gave her a loving look in vain because she wasn't looking at him. "You're always so kind and loving and I just keep hurting you. I don't deserve someone like you." She felt tears roll down her face. "Peyton look at me." Peyton shook her head. "Peyton look at me." He said with a demanding yet loving tone. Peyton tried to resist but decided to look up. Bart took a seat next to her on the bed. "You've made me happier then I ever was. Thanks to you my world finally makes sense. Peyton I love you more than anything, remember that and I don't want to hear you saying that you don't deserve me because that's a big fat lie. We love each other; you complete me and are a part of me." She looked into his eyes which were filled with passion and love. Looking into his beautiful blue eyes she knew that he was right and that he was the one for her and she was the same for him. She wrapped her arms around him and kissed him on the cheek. The night went on as both of them just laid in each others arms.


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23: Recovering

Bart woke up in his room alone. He and Peyton had decided to give each other a day apart so they could deal with their loss in their own way. For Bart this meant shooting some hoops. He got up from his bed and got ready to go to the river court. He had just tied up his shoe's when Andy walked into his room. "Bart you've got a phone call." Bart looked up at Andy and gave him a puzzled look. "Who is it?" "It's your mother." Bart sighed the last thing he wanted to deal with right now was listening to one of his mother's lectures. "Okay, thanks Andy. I'll get it up here." Andy nodded and left.

Bart moved towards the phone in his room and picked it up. "Hey, mom." Bart said silently. For a moment he heard nothing. "Bart, I've heard what happened. How are you?" His mother asked compassionately. "What do you care?" Bart asked kind of offended. "Bart, you watch your mouth. I'm still your mother." "Really? Haven't noticed that lately." Bart replied coolly. "Bart, I'm sorry. It was just the shock you know. Hearing that your 18 year old son is getting married and becoming a father isn't exactly every mother's dream." "I know it was difficult for you mom but I needed you the most back then and you abandoned me and it just." Bart paused for a while. "It just hurt me a lot." Bart thought of all the emotions he had gone through during his stay back in Holland. "I'm really sorry Bart I didn't mean to hurt you." "It's alright mom I understand. I'm just glad to hear from you again." He smiled and he knew that she was doing the same across the globe.

"So when are you coming home?" Bart's jaw dropped in shock. "What do you mean?" "Well, with the baby gone you don't have any reasons to stay there. Just come back home to your family." Bart held the phone to his ear, still in shock. "No reasons for me to stay here? Are you serious? How about my fiancé who has just lost our baby. She needs me mom and I need her. I'm staying." Bart tried his best to keep a low tone of voice. "Fiancé? You're still going to marry her? The baby's gone, there's no reason to get married." "How about I love her! Did you ever think about that!?" Bart was shouting through the phone. To his surprise he heard Martha chuckle. "Bart you're so young. Right now she seems everything in the world to you but that will fade away with time. You'll go to college meet different and interesting people and that love will just be gone before you now it." "You're full of it mom." "Bart trust me, that's how it works." "Is that why dad left?" Bart immediately regretted that statement. "That's not fair and you know it." Martha replied bitter. "You know what I don't care mom. I love Peyton and I will marry her and if you approve or not doesn't really matter to me." Bart felt a bit embarrassed when he heard how loud he was speaking through the phone. "But Bart." "No buts mom, goodbye!" Bart threw the phone back on the hook. He grabbed his basketball and stormed out of his room.

Brooke had just arrived at Peyton's house. She knew that Peyton needed her best friend to be there for her. She rang the bell and waited. Peyton opened and her face lightened up a little. "Hey Brooke." She said with a fake cheerful tone. "Hey Peyton, I thought to come by and pay you a visit." She gave her a careful smile. "Thanks Brooke, that would be great. Now come in I was about to open a box of ice cream." Peyton winked at Brooke. Brooke smiled and hopped inside.

"So where's your future hubby to be?" Brooke asked with a mouthful. "We decided it was best to give each other some space for the day. You know so we could process it in our own way." Brooke nodded. "Well then he's probably shooting hoops at the river court." "Yeah probably." Peyton replied. "I envy that." Brooke gave her a puzzled look. "Just be able to shoot some hoops and feel better you know. It's just so easy, pick up a ball, shoot into a hoop and that's all you need." Peyton sighed. "Yeah guys do have it pretty easy sometimes." She shrugged her shoulders. "At least we have ice cream." They both chuckled.

Haley was walking through the mall with Lucas. They both felt that it had been way too long since they've spent some time together. Haley still needed a ton of baby stuff so their shopping spree existed out of looking at cribs, baby clothes and different wall papers for the baby's room. They decided to get some lunch at a small restaurant. When Lucas got to their table, Haley was inhaling food as if it were air. He smiled at the sight. "What are you smiling at?" Haley stopped eating to breath. Lucas laughed and shook his head. "What?" Haley asked a little annoyed. "Okay, no offense Hales but I've seen pigs eat more civilized than you." Lucas tried to avoid Haley's attempts to hit him. When she almost fell off her chair he busted out in laughter. "Luke that's so not fair, don't forget your future cousin's doing this to me." Haley looked a little sad. Lucas quickly tried to settle her down; lately her mood swings were getting worst. "I'm sorry Hales I didn't mean it like that." As if nothing had happened Haley smiled and attacked her food again. Looking at Lucas who was trying to hold in a smile.

Lucas was just halfway through his lunch when Haley was already finished. "I'm glad we got to do this Luke. We don't spent enough time together anymore, you know just the two of us." She smiled. Lucas nodded. "I know when we see each other Nathan or Brooke are always there. Speaking of my brother, shouldn't he be taking you baby shopping?" "He's at the river court with Bart, shooting hoops and that's good Bart needs someone." "What about Peyton, doesn't he have her." Lucas asked. "Yeah he does but sometimes you just need to give each other some space, to deal with your problems on your own. Besides they have spent the last two weeks together." Lucas nodded and smiled at Haley.

Bart had been shooting hoops when Nathan, Skills and Mouth arrived. Bart threw the ball to Nathan who shot a three pointer, nailing it of course. "Hey guys." They all greeted Bart. Nathan grabbed the ball again. "What do you guys say, some 2 on 2?" He grinned and looked at Mouth who just shook his head. "Are you guys crazy, I'll get killed." Mouth said in fear. "Come on dawg, we'll be gentle." Skills patted Mouth on the shoulder. "I can't, I don't have the right clothes on." Mouth looked at his jeans and shirt. "You've got sneakers on and I have some extra clothes in the car. You're nothing getting out of this McFadden." Bart smiled. "Okay but just one game and no trash talk!" "We promise!" The three of them answered, smiling from ear to ear. Mouth followed Bart to his car who handed him some shorts and a 'Suns' Jersey. When Mouth came back on the court everyone started laughing. "Wow it's a pale Shaq." Skills joked watching Mouth whose clothes were way to big for him. "Let's just get this over with." Mouth sighed. "Okay Mouth you take Bart." Mouth looked shocked at Nathan. "You want me to guard the giant?" He asked in disbelieve. "Hey that hurts McFadden." Bart said sarcastically. Nathan moved next to Mouth. "Don't worry man, haven't you heard about David and Goliath." He winked at him. "Yeah I have but David had a rock and God was on his side. I'm just a scrawny kid with oversized clothes on." Nathan chuckled. "Okay fine, you take Skills." He playfully punched Mouth on the shoulder.

They had just finished their game and were sitting on the bleachers. Mouth was still breathing heavily from the exercise but even thought he was exhausted, he had enjoyed playing with the guys. "So Mouth ready for game two?" Nathan asked while taking another sip from his water bottle. Mouth shook his head. "No thanks Nate I'm exhausted." He produced a fake smile. The three of them laughed. "You do know that we were slacking off, not giving it our best." Skills grinned. "Oh, I know. That doesn't take away that I'm tired as hell." Mouth got up. "Mouth where are you going man?" Bart yelled after him. "I'm going to lay on my bed and die!" Mouth shouted back.

"Do you know what time it is?" Skills asked out of the blue. Bart grabbed his cell phone. "It's 15.00 hours." "Damn B, what's with the military talk?" Skills asked. "I can't help it man AM and PM confuses me." Bart shyly admitted. Nathan and Skills laughed. "What? Let's see how you guys do when you have to use the metric system or something." Bart replied bitter. "The metric system's the tool of the Devil!" Nathan shouted dramatically. Bart laughed. "Okay Nate, awesome Simpsons' quote but still its hard man, if you're not used to it." Nathan and Skills chuckled. "Anyway, I need to go. Bevin wanted to have dinner together." "Antwan 'Skills' Taylor whipped by a girl. I never thought I would see the day." Nathan joked. "Oh, let's see when Haley calls, who's going to be whipped then." Skills replied bitterly. Bart laughed. Nathan gave him an angry look. "What? He's right. Face it we're all whipped." The three sighed and nodded. "See you guys!" Bart and Nathan nodded. "What do you say Scott, some one on one?" Bart grabbed the ball. "If you want to loose, sure." Nathan replied confident. "Alright big shot why don't you go fish this one out of the net." Bart took a three pointer and nailed it. Nathan grabbed the ball threw it back to Bart and started defending.

"I still got it." Nathan proudly said as he took a seat on the bleachers. "Okay you've won but only with one point, so don't get too cocky." Bart replied with a smirk. They both drank some water. "How's Peyton doing?" Nathan broke the silence. Bart sighed. "She's a survivor. It's just hard man. What can you say or do to feel better? Nothing, this is just going to stay with us forever." Bart felt his eyes water up a little. Nathan sighed "I know. I can't even begin to imagine what it feels like. I just hope things get better and you guys will be happy." "Thanks Nate, that means a lot." "How about the wedding?" Nathan continued. "We haven't really talked about it. I still want to because I love that girl but then again we're so young who knows what will happen." "Listen to your heart B." "Well if you put it like that then yeah I want to get married." Bart produced a weak smile. Nathan smiled back at him. "Let's get out of here man, it's getting too dark." "Yeah, sure Nate. Burgers?" Bart grinned. "Burgers!" Nathan smiled.

Bart entered Peyton's house after his afternoon of basketball and burgers he was already feeling alot better. He got into the kitchen and found Brooke and Peyton who had just finished their second box of ice cream.

"If it isn't my two most favorite girls in the world." He smiled and moved towards Peyton to give her a hug. Peyton started screaming and pushing him away. "Bart, no! You're sweaty and you smell." She giggled. "Oh come on, not even a small one?" He pouted his lips. Peyton laughed. "No, smelly cat." Bart shrugged his shoulders and went to the fridge to get a bottle of water. Peyton was about to talk to Brooke again when Bart surprised her with a tight hug from the back. Peyton tried to free herself from his grip only resulting to Bart hugging her even tighter. Brooke was laughing. Bart kissed Peyton's temple and looked up. "You think that's funny Brooke?" "Uhuh." Brooke managed to bring out. Before she even knew it Bart had her in his arms. "Still funny now?" Bart laughed, Peyton started laughing too. "This is disgusting." Bart released her. Brooke brushed off her shirt. "Now I need to go home and get a shower. Thanks alot, you dirty foreigner." Brooke playfully pointed her finger at Bart. "I think you need another hug." Bart opened his arms with a big grin on his face. He stepped closer to Brooke who started running. "Bye Peyton!" She shouted.

"Thanks alot, you scared my best friend away." Peyton said with a sarcastic tone. Bart took her in his arms and this time she didn't resist. He smiled at her. "I'm sorry." He gave her a quick kiss on the lips. "So how was your day?" He asked compassionately, stroking a hair out of her face. "It was fine, just us girls. You?" "The same but instead of girls, guys." He smiled. "Good." She looked into his eyes. "I'm going to take a shower. Want to join me because no offense Blondie but you smell." Bart said with a grin on his face. Peyton sighed and looked down. "What's wrong?" "I'm sorry Bart but I'm just not ready for that yet." She looked back up, a tear ran down her face. Bart wiped the tear away. "That's okay baby. I understand." He gave her a comforting smile and kissed her.

"I can't believe that Peyton and Bart will be married soon." Brooke had just gotten out of the bathroom. She sat down next to Lucas on her bed still drying her hair. "Yeah, it's crazy, everybody's going so fast. I mean were just in high school." "Luke that's love, it makes you do crazy things." Brooke said in a sweet tone. Lucas shook his head. "You don't need a marriage to show that you love each other." Brooke looked a little shocked at him. "Lucas do you want to get married?" Lucas looked confused. "Not now but someday?" Brooke corrected herself. "I don't think so, the whole thing just seems so unnecessary." "So you don't want to get married?" Lucas shrugged his shoulders. "I guess not Brooke." "So you're saying that we have no future at all." "I didn't say that. I just don't want to get married. We don't need rings to show that we love each other." "Lucas, it isn't about the rings it's about the commitment you make with each other. Promising that you will have a bond forever." "Brooke don't be like this. I don't want to get married. Is that such a big deal? Isn't loving you enough?" "Well I guess not Lucas. I want to get married and if you don't want that well there's no point in going on." "That's bullshit Brooke. You broke up with me because I didn't let you in my heart, now I am letting you and you don't like it." "Luke can't you see that this is important to me!" Brooke was raising her voice now. "Me, me it doesn't always have to be your choice and what you want Brooke. This past months I have done nothing else than loving you and doing everything in my power to please you. Because that's what love is all about but it has to come from both Brooke. I don't want to get married and that's final." Lucas got up. "Well I guess this is it then!" Brooke screamed to his back. Lucas turned around. "I guess it is!" He left her room. Brooke grabbed hold of her pillow and started crying softly.

7


	24. Chapter 24

**Chapter 24: Love overcomes anything?**

Bart was in Peyton's kitchen, loudly singing along with the radio while he made the batter for his famous 'Pancakes a la Bart'. He had a secret ingredient that no one would get to know, not even Peyton. He liked to keep some things secret so he could have some mystery around his 'persona'. He smiled at the thought of Peyton begging him to know his secret ingredient. He chuckled a bit and did some eggs into a bowl. He was about to start mixing everything together when the doorbell rang. He cleaned his hands and made his way towards the front door, wondering who it could be.

He had just opened the door and was surprised to immediately be hugged by a crying Brooke. "Uhm hey Brooke." He said still trying to figure out what was going on. Brooke didn't answer him and just kept hugging him. "Something wrong?" He asked. All that Brooke could do was whisper "Lucas". Bart thought for a while, how should he deal with this? He had always had a high feeling of respect and love for Brooke and even though he only knew her for 7 months she was like a sister to him. "Why don't we step inside, I'm making pancakes." He patted her back but she gave him no response, she just kept holding on. "Okay, I know what to do." He ducked a bit and put one arm firmly around her back and lifted her up. He was surprised that Brooke didn't even shrug at this. He closed the door, put his other arm also on her back and carried her all the way to the kitchen. Brooke said nothing or did nothing, she had her arms firmly around his neck.

Bart had carried her into the kitchen and was able to free himself and put Brooke on a chair. "So spill. What's going on Brooke?" Bart poured her a glass of orange juice and took a seat next to her. He laid his hand on her shoulder and she immediately grabbed hold of it. She sighed but remained quiet. "Do you want me to wake up Peyton, I'm not really good at the 'girl talk' thing." Bart smiled weakly. Brooke shook her head. "No I want to talk to you." Bart nodded, Brooke had been there for him after Jake kissed Peyton, he had to do anything he could to help Brooke in her time of need. After all he owned her. "So what happened Brooke? Did you and Luke have a fight?" Brooke sighed. "More like we fought and broke up." Bart looked shocked at her. "Why?" He asked in disbelieve. "Well we started talking about you guys getting married and I asked him if he wanted to get married." She saw Bart's surprised look. "Yeah, he gave me the same look. I don't mean now but in the future when we're through college. You know when we're older, working, figured out what we want." Brooke paused for a while. "He said that he didn't want that. Not even in the future. I said that I wanted to get married, make the ultimate commitment to each other but he said that loving me should be enough and that we don't need a ring and a piece of paper to prove that. I told him that this was important to me but he still remained stubborn. That's when I said that what we have isn't worth it then. So I said that we were over and that's when he stormed out." Brooke started sobbing again. Bart thought for a while. "I don't know what to say Brooke. I think that you're right but Lucas is just being young you know. The future seems so far away and who knows what will happen. Good or bad." Brooke nodded. "I know Bart it's not like I want to get married now it's just I need to know if we have a future together because I want to have a family with my husband." "I know Brooke, just give him some time. Lucas would be a fool not to marry you in the future." He gave her a comforting smile. "Thanks Bart." "No problem B. Davis and remember Peyton and I will always be your family." "I know thanks B." Brooke chuckled weakly. Bart did the same. "I know it's weird when you call me B. That's more Nathan's thing." "I know I'll just stay with foreign hunk." She smiled. "Okay, babe. Now how about those pancakes?" Bart got up and moved towards the stove. "Sounds great!" Bart smiled and started singing along with the radio again. He was glad to hear that Brooke was doing the same.

Bart, Peyton and Brooke had jus gotten out of Bart's car. Peyton was informed about what had happened and had been trying to make Brooke feel better but without success. "I hope I don't see him today." Brooke sighed. As if it was orchestrated by some higher being, Nathan's car parked next to them. They saw Haley, Nathan and Lucas get out. Brooke quickly hid behind Bart's wide shoulders, completely disappearing. "Hey B." Nathan said. He also greeted Peyton, Haley and Lucas did the same. There was an awkward silence for a while. "Have you guys seen Brooke?" Lucas asked kind of bluntly. Peyton and Bart looked at each other. "Um actually I have." Bart felt Brooke pinching in his back. "Haven't, I haven't seen her." He corrected himself. Lucas shrugged his shoulders and went inside.

"Bart, thank you so much for hiding me." Brooke came from behind Bart's back. Haley looked in shock at her. "Brooke you need to talk to Lucas." "I don't want to Hales." "Brooke you have to sort this out. He's been at our house all night and morning complaining and whining and to be fair it's driving me and the little one crazy." Haley rubbed over her stomach. "He'll have to talk first, I took the first step last time. Not again, with his stubborn ass." "Brooke, this is no time to be proud." Haley said sternly. "No Hales, this is something that I really feel strongly about and I'm not letting his stubbornness change that." "Brooke, I know Lucas can be difficult but please, he's hurting and so are you." "I'm not hurt." Brooke said almost offended. Everyone crooked their eyebrows at her. Brooke sighed. "Fine, I won't hide anymore so if he wants to talk he can but I'm not going to take the first step." Brooke left the group and went inside. "God, this is going to take forever." Peyton whined. Everyone nodded. "Yeah, knowing Lucas and Brooke. They both won't admit it but when it comes to being stubborn they're equals." "Indeed, let's just hope this doesn't effect the group." Bart sighed. "No it wont B. Did you see the Celtics game last night?" Nathan changed the subject. "Of course!" Peyton and Haley rolled their eyes when Bart and Nathan started talking about the game as they walked inside.

Brooke jumped on Bart's bed. "Make yourself comfortable B. Davis." Bart said. "Hey, it's not my fault that we have to do a science project." She grabbed the TV remote and switched on the TV. Bart shook his head. "That's right Brooke science, so turn that TV off." Brooke gave him a mischievous look. "Say please." "Okay, please." Bart said in a bitter tone. "Say it like you mean it." Bart sighed. "Please, Brooke." Bart said in the sweetest tone he could produce. Brooke giggled. "That's better. Let's get started." They had just grabbed their books and notebooks when the doorbell rang. "Okay B. Davis you get started, I'm going to answer that." Brooke nodded. "Sure 'FH'!" Bart turned around. "FH?" Brooke laughed. "Yeah FH like in foreign hunk or in a few months; friend's husband." Bart chuckled and got down stairs. He opened the door, his mouth just fell open.

"Luke, stop it!" Haley screamed. Lucas and Nathan looked shocked at her. "I can't take it anymore, talk to her." "Haley, I wont. I was right!" Lucas slightly raised his voice. "Who cares, who was right? You guys love each other, now stop your whining and call her." Lucas shook his head. "Nate a little help here." Nathan looked shocked at Lucas. He didn't want to get between his brother and pregnant wife. A wife that had changed into a hormonal monster. "I'm staying out of this one Luke." "No Nathan, tell him he's wrong." Haley demanded. Nathan sighed. "Listen, this whole thing is a little silly. I mean you guys wont get married until like many years from now." Nathan was interrupted by a cough by Lucas. "If you guys get married. Just go with the flow Luke. Who knows what happens, maybe after some years you do want to get married." "But that's the thing Nate, I don't want to. Not ever." "How do you know that man and is it worth loosing Brooke over something stupid like this?" Nathan regretted those words when he saw Haley's face. "You think marriage is stupid Nathan?" Haley said with an angry voice. "No Hales off course not. It's just they're fighting over something that isn't even happening yet. It's so far away. Luke you just have to suck it up and apologize." "Like hell I will, I was right." Lucas defended himself. "God damn it Luke, could you put your ego aside for just one minute. It's love man!" Nathan concluded. Lucas thought for a while. "I guess you're right Nate." He sighed. "I'm going to find her." Lucas got up and left. Haley was looking at her husband with teary eyes. "What?" Nathan asked with a puzzled look. "Nothing but that was so beautiful. I'm so glad I married you." She smiled. Nathan grinned and pulled her on his lap. "I'm glad that I married you too." He gave her a passionate kiss.

Peyton was pacing through her room. She picked up the phone. Sighed and started dialing. Her heart rate went up when she heard someone pick up in a foreign language, a language that she knew all to well. "Um, hi Martha?" There was a moment of silence. "Yes this is Martha, who is this?" Peyton thought for a while, wondering if she didn't make a mistake. "Hi, this is Peyton." Peyton heard Martha sigh through the phone. "Oh, what do you want?" Martha said in a bitter tone. "I just called to see if we could talk this through. It's really killing Bart and I want him to feel better." She heard Martha chuckle. "Peyton that's very noble of you but this could be easily resolved." "How?" Peyton asked. "Break up with him, let him come home where he belongs." "I can't do that." Peyton said in disbelieve. "Sure you can, it's easy. Just say: Bart we're over. And that's that." Peyton couldn't believe what she was hearing. "I can't, I love him." "Well I guess your effort was in vain then." Martha said with a steady voice and hung up. Peyton slowly put the phone back on the hook. She looked at a picture of her and Bart and picked it up. "I'm sorry Hun, I tried." She stroked her index finger over his face and put the picture back on the nightstand.

Andy and Karen were walking along side the river. They've had a great night. Just a romantic dinner and a walk but everything seemed so perfect these last couple of months. Andy grabbed hold of Karen's hand and she moved her body closer to his. They stopped at a bench and took a seat. Andy took her in his arms and looked at the reflection of lights coming from the town. "I'm so glad that I had the nerve to ask you out." Andy stroked over her shoulder. Karen looked up with a smile on her face. "Me too. These last few months have been the best of my life." Andy gave her a kiss on her forehead. He sighed. "Something wrong Andy." Karen asked worriedly. "Not really Karen, it's just I want to ask you something but I'm afraid of how you will react." "Andy don't be afraid just go for it." She winked at him. Andy nodded. He stood up and kept her hand into his. "Karen I know we've had a small history and life hasn't treated both of us very well but now that I've found you. I know everything happened for a reason." He got on one knee. Karen tried to gasp for air. "I love you Karen and I know it's fast but, will you marry me?" Andy showed her a ring that he had hidden in his pocket. Karen looked at him and at the ring, she took a moment to process everything. Andy felt his hand shake harder and harder by the minute. "Yes." Karen simply said. "Yes?" Andy asked delighted. "Yes!" Karen smiled. Andy slipped the ring on her finger and took her in a hug.

Brooke was searching through her backpack but couldn't find a pencil. She grabbed hold of Bart's bag but yet again no luck. She decided to go downstairs and ask Bart for one. She had just gotten down and saw Bart standing in the doorway. "Bart do you have an extra pencil? I can't find mine." Bart gave her no response. She moved closer to him and wondered what was going on. When she got next to him she saw a man in his mid thirty. He had grey hair with some strains of brown in it. He had dark brown eyes and his face looked almost exactly the same as Bart's except for a big scar coming from between his eyes going all the way up to his hair. She saw Bart just staring at him and the look on his face kind of scared her. She grabbed his arm. "Bart is everything alright?" Bart did not even glance at her. Brooke was really starting to feel nervous when she finally saw Bart's mouth open up. "D-Dad?"

6


	25. Chapter 25

**Chapter 25: Heal?**

"D-Dad?" Bart stammered. He grabbed hold of Brooke's hand and just kept staring at the man standing in front of him. The older man smiled. "Yes, it's me Bart." Brooke just kept quiet and looked at the man. She thought that it was remarkable how much he looked like Bart. Suddenly Bart let go of her and took the man in a hug. She heard him crying but after a moment or two Bart let go of the man. He wiped his face. His hands formed into fists. Brooke saw Bart go through allot of emotions, she had seen shock, sadness and by the look of his face anger was showing it's ugly head. She stepped back and saw Bart's right fist swing at the man's face, who fell to the ground. "Where the hell have you been?!" Bart kicked his father in the ribs. "Bart don't!" Brooke screamed. Bart looked angry at her and then confused. "Bart, son. I can explain." Bart looked at the man again, he tried to get up. "I bet you can but I don't care. You left me and there's no excuse for that. You have no idea how hard it was for me. I was 8 damn it and you left and I always wondered or more thought that it was me, you know that it was my fault but then I realized that it wasn't me or my brothers or mom it was you and you alone! If it wasn't for grandpa I would be ashamed to wear the name 'Vanhooi', you sorry excuse of a man!" Bart turned and went inside. Hearing his father scream "Bart, I can explain!" Bart sighed. "Close the door Brooke." He whispered. Brooke was frozen solid and didn't know what to do. She had never seen Bart so hurt, angry. It was as if he was a different person. "Close the door Brooke." Bar said in a louder tone of voice. Brooke snapped out of it and closed the door and went after him. She could barely keep up with him because he was using the full length of his legs to get into the kitchen as quickly as possible. When he got there, he went to the fridge and she saw him pull out a bottle of beer. Before she could say anything he was moving again, towards the living room. He took a seat on the couch and Brooke joined him.

"Bart are you okay?" She asked and put her hand onto his shoulder, squeezing it softly. Bart shrugged his shoulders. Took a zip from his beer and just broke down. Tears were streaming over his face. He tried to hold them back but his attempts were in vain. Brooke grabbed hold of him. "Peyton." Bart whispered. Brooke looked puzzled at him. "I need Peyton." He looked into her eyes, she nodded. "I'll call her to come over." She got up and grabbed the first phone she saw.

Brooke was listening through the phone when finally someone answered. "Hello?" She heard Peyton say. "Peyton, you need to come over now." Brooke said hysterically. "Wow, wow Brooke calm down. What's going on?" Brooke calmed down a bit. "It's Bart." "What about him, is he alright?" "You never guess who showed up at his door." Peyton thought of Martha first but that was impossible she had spoken to her only an hour ago. "Who?" Peyton was really worried. "His dad." "His dad? Are you serious?" Peyton asked in disbelieve. "Yes I am. It really messed up Bart. He needs you Peyton." "Say, no more Brooke. I'm coming!" Brooke heard the phone going on the hook and she did the same.

Brooke went back into the living room and saw Bart still sitting there. His crying had stopped but she saw that he had already finished his beer and was consuming a second one. She sat back down. "Bart, maybe this one should be your last." Bart nodded. "I can assure you Brooke it is." Bart sighed. They both just sat in silence when they heard the front door open and Peyton came storming in.

"Bart are you alright?" She ran towards Bart and took him in a hug. "Not really." Bart whispered. "Well I'm here now, talk to me." Peyton looked into his eyes which were red from crying. "I'm going to leave you guys alone." Brooke stood up. "Brooke you don't have to." Bart looked at her. "No, no it's getting late after all. I'll see you guys tomorrow at school." Bart and Peyton smiled, Brooke did the same and left. Peyton watched Brooke go out the front door and then looked back at Bart. "So your dad?" She still couldn't believe it. Bart just nodded. "It was really weird Peyton. I first felt like I was eight again and so happy to see him and then all the emotions of neglect and anger came back to me and I." Bart paused. Peyton squeezed his hand. "I punched him." Bart looked at his feet. "I'm not proud of it but I couldn't help myself." "Bart I know it's not in your nature to hit anybody but I must say that this time you had every right. I mean no child should go through what you've been through." Bart sighed. "Still, I take such dumb decisions when I'm emotional. First I punch Jake and now my own father and afterwards I always feel so guilty because violence should never be the answer no matter what. I just, I don't know." Bart started to sob again. "It's okay. Come here." Peyton wrapped her arms around him. "No matter what happens we'll get through this. We've made it so far this is just a small obstacle."

Brooke was about half way home. She had to walk because Bart was in no shape to give her a ride home. She was really emotional because of what had happened. Bart was one of her best friends, she really felt bad for him because when she was hurt, he was her rock. Off course she had Peyton but that wasn't the same. She felt and knew that she would always find support with Bart and she loved him for that. He was like the brother she never had. She turned into her street when she heard someone shout behind her. "Excuse me, miss?!" Brooke turned around and couldn't believe her eyes. "I'm sorry but I shouldn't be talking to you." She was now face to face with Bart's dad. "Please, hear me out. You seem close to Bart and I know I wont be able to talk to him. Please just let me do my story I can explain everything." "I don't know Mr. Vanhooi it wouldn't feel right." "Please call me David and I promise when you hear my story it will all become clear." Brooke sighed "Okay you've got 5 minutes." David thought for a while. "The clock's ticking." Brooke said impatient. "Okay so I was living with Martha, Bart's mom and she was pregnant. Everything was going well and I loved my family. When Martha was 6 months pregnant I found out that she was having an affair and that it was already going on for about 2 years. There even was a chance that the baby wasn't mine. I asked Martha about it and she confirmed it but she said that it was over and that the baby was definitely mine." "Wait Martha cheated? Bart doesn't know that but still that's no excuse to leave your kids." Brooke interrupted him. "I know, I'm getting to that." "A month after I found out I was offered a job in America. Charlotte to be precise but I had to come over immediately for the interview. I just grabbed my bags and decided to come back for the kids later. I hadn't informed anybody about what I was up to. I was going to call my dad when I got at the hotel. So I'm in the Charlotte airport and I took a cab to my hotel but about halfway my taxi got into an accident. I was severally wounded." David pointed at the scar on his head. "I was in a coma for almost a year and my passport and everything where lost in the accident. The doctors weren't sure if I would ever wake up. After a year I did but I had suffered serious head trauma and my memory was gone. I couldn't remember anything. I have been living like that for almost 10 years. It was difficult I didn't know who I was, where I came from, if I had family. Nothing, not even my name." Brooke tried to process everything. "But if you don't remember anything then how did you find Bart or even remembered him?" "Well I was at my apartment reading the paper. This was I don't know about two weeks ago and there was an article about him and some guy named Scott getting into Duke and I remember looking at the picture of him and reading his name and I had like a flashback or something. I remembered him being in my arms as a baby. How happy I was. Him running into my arms after he scored a basket for the first time in our backyard. I remembered putting him to sleep and then I remembered everything that had happened and I knew that I had to find him. So I came to Tree Hill asked around and found his address and that's about it." "David I'm so sorry." Brooke said compassionately. "So will you talk to Bart? Please." David asked hopefully. Brooke nodded. "I'll try." "Thank you, um." David hesitated. "It's Brooke." "Thank you Brooke, are you Bart's girlfriend?" David asked uncomfortably. Brooke shook her head. "No, I'm the best friend of his girlfriend. I mean fiancé." David looked shocked at her. "He's getting married?" Brooke just nodded. "Is it serious, I mean will they last?" David asked. "I think so, they really love each other." "That's good. I'm glad he's happy. So I better be going. Thanks for listening Brooke." David smiled at her and walked away. Brooke sighed. "How am I going to explain this." She thought to herself.

Bart was eating his lunch alone at school. Peyton had to go to the library for an assignment. He was still a little in shock about what had happened. He took a bite from his sandwich and tried to think of something else. "Bart?" Bart looked up and rolled his eyes. "What do you want Jake?" "Can I sit down?" Jake asked nervously. "I don't know man. Are you going to ask for me to break up with someone?" Bart replied coldly. Jake shook his head. "Sure, sit down." Jake smiled weakly and took a seat. "So what do you want Jake?" Bart was still playing it cool. "I just, I just want to apologize. I've had a lot of time to think things over and I was wrong and I genuinely feel sorry for that and I hope that sometime in the future we can be friends." Jake sighed and looked at Bart who was clearly thinking things over. "Okay." "Okay?" Jake asked. "I accept your apologies, I've been thinking about it too lately and how it must be like to loose someone like her. I understand now how difficult it must be to choose between your child and the girl you love. I'm sorry too man for the punching and all that." Bart smiled weakly. "Thanks Bart. I hope we can be friends." "Well, lets start with being civil around each other and we'll go from there." Bart grinned. "Sounds good, see you later man." "Yeah, bye Jake."

"What was Jake doing here?" Brooke sat down next to Bart. He smiled at her and gave her a quick friendly kiss on the cheek. "He was just here to apologize for everything that happened." "So did you accept his apology?" Brooke asked eagerly. Bart just nodded. "Yeah, you can't help how you feel after all and he did apologize, so why the heck not. Maybe we'll become friends in the future." "That sounds really great Bart." "Anyway, we still need to do that science project Brooke." Bart smiled when he saw Brooke's reaction. "How about after school?" Brooke suggested. "Sounds good B. Davis. Your place?" Brooke nodded. "Yeah sure. I'll meet you on the parking lot." She got back up, she wanted to tell him everything but she figured that the cafeteria wasn't exactly the right place to do so.

Bart was waiting by his car for Brooke. He got out his keys when he saw her coming out of the school. "Hey Brooke. Ready to go?" He asked. "Yes." Brooke said. They were about to get in when Lucas came running out of the building, shouting for Brooke to stop. He finally arrived, out of breath. "Brooke can I talk to you?" Brooke looked at Bart. He looked puzzled but then caught on. "Oh, I'll wait in the car with my radio really loud." He smiled at them. "So what's up Luke?" Brooke asked innocently. "Oh you know what this is about." Lucas replied a bit sarcastic. Brooke sighed. "Listen Brooke. I know that you want to get married and I overreacted. I mean, who knows what will happen and if I marry I'm sure it will be with you, Brooke but for the moment let's just enjoy being young and in love, okay?" "You know what Luke, that sounds really great. I think we both kind of freaked out over nothing. I'm sorry." "I'm sorry too Brooke." Lucas took her in his arms, he hated fighting with her and he was so glad that he took the first step to make everything right again. He looked into her eyes and smiled. "I love you Brooke." "I love you too." He gave her a passionate kiss. They heard Bart's car window open up. "Guys I'm all about love and glad that you guys patched things up but Brooke we need to get that project ready. I don't want an F." Brooke and Lucas chuckled. "Do you have to work for school?" Lucas asked in a childish tone. Brooke sighed, I guess I have to." She looked down and then back into his eyes with a mischievous look on her face. She hugged him tight and whispered. "Tell you what. I'll IM you when I'm done, you come over and meanwhile I'll slip into something comfortable and wait in desire for you to arrive." She kissed his ear. Lucas grinned. "Hm, sounds like a plan." He winked at her. She gave him a quick peck on the lips and got into Bart's car. "So Lucas is your booty call?" Bart said grinning. Brooke looked shocked at him. "Just drive you." She smiled. Bart chuckled and turned his keys.

"I'm so glad we've got this over with. Stupid science." Brooke sighed and quickly stuffed her books back in her backpack. "I know what you mean Brooke. So everything's okay with you and Luke?" Bart smiled. Brooke nodded. "Yeah, we are. I'm so glad, I hate it when we fight." "I'm glad too, you didn't seem like jolly old Brooke for a while." Bart grinned. "Old?" Brooke gave him an angry look. "Yeah old, just look at all these wrinkles." Bart started to point at places on her face. Brooke playfully punched him on the shoulder.

"Bart there's something I need to talk to you about." Brooke's smile faded. "Sure Brooke, what's up." Bart asked with a puzzled look. "I talked to your dad yesterday." Brooke said in a quiet tone. "You did what?!" "Bart calm down. He followed me begging for a chance to explain his actions." Bart settled down. "What did he have to say?" Brooke thought for a while so she wouldn't forget anything. Bart listened very carefully to what she said. "And that's it." Brooke concluded. "So my mom was cheating, he left for a job with the intention to pick me and my brothers up later. Got into an accident, was in a coma and recently got his memory back. I'm sorry Brooke but that seems a little to 'soap opera' to me." "Bart I swear, if I thought he was lying I wouldn't be telling you this. He seemed really sincere." "I don't know Brooke. It all sounds a little to farfetched for me plus he kind of stalked you." "Bart he's desperate. He wants his son back. At least talk to him. Let him prove that he's telling you the truth." "Okay Brooke I guess it couldn't hurt." Bart smiled weakly.

They both sat in silence for a while. "I think I'm going to go. Lucas must be going crazy waiting for you to message him." Bart smirked. "Wouldn't you go crazy if you had a chance to spent an evening with me?" Brooke playfully winked at him. Bart chuckled. "Yeah, I would kill for an evening with Brooke Davis, head of the cheerleaders. Just thinking about it makes me wild, rrrrr." The both laughed. "Bye Brooke." Bart said still chuckling a bit. "Bye FH."

8


	26. Chapter 26

**Chapter 26****: Proof **

Bart was walking down the street. He had been nervous all day because today was the day that he was going to meet and talk with his father again after ten years. He was skeptical about the story that his dad had told Brooke but deep, deep down inside he hoped that it was the truth. With the lost of his mother's support he hoped that his dad would be understanding and be there for him like he once was when Bart was only eight years old.

He stood in front of Karen's café, took a deep breath and stepped inside.

He scanned the café and saw that it was a slow day for Karen. There was one man sitting at the counter, a woman who was reading the paper, sitting at a table in the centre of the café. He looked over towards the corner and saw his father sitting next to the front window, reading a paper and having a cup of coffee. Bart gathered all his courage and stepped over.

"Um, hi." Bart nervously said as he took a seat across from his father. He saw his father look up and a smile formed on his face. Bart looked at his face and his brown intense eyes. He remembered his eyes they could let you run in fear when he was angry or let you feel that everything was going to be all right when he was trying to comfort you. "Bart I'm so glad that you're willing to do this." David replied nervously. Bart just nodded. "So I'm guessing that Brooke told you everything." David continued. "Yeah about that, sorry but I don't believe you. It all sounds too unreal." Bart coldly interrupted him. David smiled. "I know and I'm glad that you brought that up because to prove everything I have my old medical records with me plus some reports from counseling sessions." David handed Bart a brown folder with a considerable amount of papers in it. Bart opened it and carefully started reading everything. With every word that he read he got happier and happier.

Bart was about halfway but thought that he had read enough. He smiled at his father, suddenly he didn't feel like an 18 year old young man but like he was 7 again. "Dad, I've missed you so much." Bart admitted. He smiled. David did the same. "So can we start our life again Bart? I'm still sorry that you've gone through all that. No child deserves that, especially not one of mine." "It's okay dad, it was not your fault. I'm just glad that we can start over. So what have you been up to?" "I've been working as a handyman, you know just fixing things where they need me. It's not big money but I like it, helping people always feels nice." Bart nodded. "I'm sure it does." "So Bart I hear you're getting married." David asked smiling. Bart sighed. "Yeah, I am." "Something wrong son? If you're not ready, you're not ready." "No it's not that dad. I love Peyton with all my heart she means the world to me. It's just I wish mom could be more understanding. I mean this is going to be the most important day of my life and it wouldn't feel right if she wasn't there." Bart looked outside, fighting of a tear. "That's probably not going to change, I don't remember Martha as well as you but I remember one thing, she can be very stubborn." "You said it dad but I'll deal with her later. Now I would love to introduce you to Peyton." "I would love that son!" They got up, David paid his bill and they both left the café.

Lucas woke up with a smile on his face. He looked at his dresser and the picture of him and Brooke on top of it. They've gone through so much but always came out stronger than ever. He loved her, he was sure of that but than again he always felt like it always took too much effort. Effort that was worth it but was that something you had to do in a relationship? Come to think of it, Brooke was the only serious relationship he has been in. How could he know? How could he be sure? He knew that Brooke was the girl for him, the only girl but how long would that last. He was 18 about to go to college in New York and Brooke would be in L.A. with the whole nation between them who knew what could happen. That thought scared him, he wanted to believe that they would make it, that their love is strong enough to do the long distance relationship but so many others had failed trying why would it be any different with them.

Lucas stared at the sealing and smiled. Somehow he knew that they would make it, sure he wasn't sure what the future would bring for him, Brooke, them but somehow he knew, he knew. He got up and stretched his body. Grabbed some clothes and his basketball. A morning of shooting hoops at the river court should get him at ease again.

He walked in the kitchen and was surprised by Karen and Andy who both looked a little nervous at him. "Okay, what's up? I'm not on drugs so no need for an intervention." He joked. Karen didn't smile and sighed. "Lucas we need to talk." "Um can't it wait mom I promised the guys I would come and shoot some hoops." "No Lucas it can't please sit down." Lucas obeyed and took a seat. "So what's up? Are you pregnant?" Lucas chuckled with his own joke. "Could you be serious for just one second?" Karen replied a bit angry. "Sorry, go ahead." "Well Lucas honey, Andy and I are engaged." Karen smiled at Andy and he did the same. Lucas just looked shocked at them. "What engaged?! You've been dating for three months! Are you guys' crazy?" Lucas asked. "Lucas calm down, we make each other happy. This will work." Karen replied. "No it wont mom, sure everything's great now, which starting relationship isn't but this will never work and than I can pick up the pieces again and try to make you happy but not this time. Do what you want but don't expect any support." Lucas grabbed his basketball and stood up. "Please Lucas don't be like this." Karen begged him. Lucas turned around and looked in disgust at them. "I'm late, bye." He stormed out.

Karen started sobbing. Andy grabbed hold of her hand but he didn't know what to say. He knew how much Lucas meant to Karen and if he didn't approve than the marriage could be in danger of not happening at all. He squeezed her hand tightly and looked into her eyes. "Karen just give him some time, Lucas is a great kid, he'll turn around." "I hope you're right Andy." She gave him a quick peck on the cheek. "Now can we go and tell my kid the good news." Karen looked puzzled at him. "Your kid?" "Yeah, Bart. I might not be his dad but he's my boy you know." Karen smiled. "Sure but if Lucas was meeting the guys he'll probably be at the river court." "Let's just go to my place, we can wait there." Karen smiled and tried to forget the confrontation with Lucas. "Okay Andy, let's go."

Lucas had arrived at the river court and saw that he was the first one there. He shrugged his shoulders and just started shooting. He was running up and down the court and was glad when he felt the muscles in his legs burning. It was like the pain was cleansing him. He smiled and took a seat on the bleachers.

Bart and Nathan were on their way to the river court. Nathan was driving and loudly singing along with his Wutang Clan CD. Bart looked amused at his best man, who after a while realized that he was being watched. Nathan turned the volume down. "What?" he asked a little embarrassed. Bart just shrugged his shoulders. "Nothing." He started laughing. Nathan looked angry at him. "You're just jealous of my skills man." He replied bitter. "Yeah that's it." Bart replied sarcastically. "Whatever man." "Oh, Nathan are your feelings hurt?" Bart smiled and Nathan couldn't help himself and did the same. "So how did everything with your dad go?" Nathan changed the subject. "Actually really good man. His story checked out and he's being really great. I took him to meet Peyton, he likes her and we talked about basketball the rest of the night. He still can't believe that his son is playing at Duke next year." "I'm glad B. That's great and even I still can't believe that you're playing at Duke because let's face it man you suck." Nathan smiled. "Oh, listen to mister 'I'm a huge rap artist in my car'." Bart quickly replied. They both sat in silence for a while. "I'm sorry Nate." Bart said sarcastically. "Me too B." Nathan replied in the same sarcastic tone. Bart turned the volume of the car stereo back up and now they were both 'rapping' along with the CD.

Nathan had just parked next to the river court when they saw that Lucas was already there. They saw sweat dripping from his face and thought that he had already been there for a while. "Hey Luke!" They both shouted from across the court as they got closer. Lukas just nodded at them and took another sip from his bottle. "Aren't we cheerful today?" Nathan joked. "I'm not in the mood Nate." Lucas replied bitter. "Something wrong Luke? Did you and Brooke fight again?" Bart asked hoping that he and Brooke were fine. Lucas looked up. "Nah, it's not that. Don't you know already?" Lucas asked Bart, Bart just shrugged his shoulders. "My mom and Andy are engaged." Bart and Nathan looked shocked at him. "Seriously?" Bart asked in disbelieve. "Yeah, seriously!" Lucas sighed. "Well I don't know what to think of that." Bart admitted. "I'll tell you what you should think; you should think that they're making a huge mistake. This will only end in heartache. How can they marry after only three months?" Lucas asked. "Luke that's love man, you can't explain it." Bart tried to calm him down. "Whatever man, they can do what they want let's just shoot some hoops!"

Bart got home exhausted. What should have been a relaxed afternoon of shooting some hoops became an intense 3 on 3 game in which none of them wanted to give an inch to the other. Even though he was tired he did feel fulfilled. He loved pushing his body to the limit; it was a sort of therapy for him, a way to process everything that was going on in his life. He threw his bag on the couch and made his way to the kitchen where he found Karen and Andy sitting at the table. "If it isn't Mr. and Mrs. Hargrove to be." He grabbed a bottle of water out of the fridge. Karen and Andy looked surprised at him. "Lucas just told me everything and let me just be the first one to congratulate you two. I really think that it's wonderful that you found each other. I wish you the best of luck." Andy smiled. "Thanks Bart, that means a lot." Bart shook his head. "Don't even mention it, oh and Karen don't worry about Lucas. He'll turn around, I'm sure of it." "I hope so Bart." "He will, now if you'll excuse me I'm going to take a shower."

Peyton was in her kitchen and looking over the guest list for the wedding. She couldn't believe that in only one month she would be married. Everything did happen so fast. She still remembered the first time she saw Bart. Shy, friendly, sweet, breathtakingly hot and eyes that could make you melt. He still had hair in those days although his shaved look was starting to fade and being replaced with his regular messed up, in every direction pointing hair. When she met him back then she would have never expected of them going through so much but than again it was Tree Hill, no one had a quiet normal life here. She looked at the names again and was shocked by one of them. It was added in a hand writing that could have been of none other than Bart's. Hieroglyphics were easier to read than his hand writing. She read the name a second time and a third. "What's Jake doing on here?" She thought to herself. As if on cue Bart walked in and gave her a kiss. "Bart, what's Jake doing on the guest list?" Peyton asked straight to the point. "I thought we should invite him, I mean he has apologized and maybe if he sees us getting married, he can move on. You know?" "Maybe you're right but don't you remember how much pain he has caused us?" Peyton asked still in disbelieve. "Oh, I remember, believe me I remember." Bart thought of all that Jake had done. How he asked him to break up with Peyton, when he kissed her. He couldn't help to feel his hands form into fists. "But, he was in love Peyton. We do crazy stuff when we're in love." Bart smiled. "Okay, if it's fine by you, it's fine by me." Peyton smiled at her fiancé and wrote Jake's address on an envelope. "Hey come here." Bart grabbed hold of her arm and gently pulled her in a hug. He looked into her eyes. "You know I love you right?" Peyton grinned. "Yeah, that's pretty obvious. The feeling's mutual." Bart smiled and kissed her. After a moment of intense kissing he let go of her.

"So what are you going to do next year?" Bart asked. "What do you mean?" "Well I'm going to Duke but what do you want to do?" Peyton shrugged. "I haven't really thought of it. Just go to Duke with you I guess. Maybe do some business classes so I can open up a place like

Tric. I mean if I ever get the money for that." Bart smiled at her. "What?" Peyton asked, a bit offended. "We'll have the money, you can be sure of that." Peyton looked puzzled at him. "How?" "I went to get the check from Dan's dealership and let's just say that money won't be a problem for a long time." "Bart how much did you get?" Peyton asked, embarrassed for her curiosity. "Well, let's just say it ends with six zeros." Bart grinned. "Great now everyone will think I'm marrying you for the money." "What you're not?" Bart teased. "I you value your life, you will take that back." Peyton tried to playfully hit him but Bart grabbed hold of her arm and than her other arm. He held her arms together behind her back and his face was only an inch away from her face. "Bart let me go." Peyton laughed. "What, my blonde gold digger. Don't forget who's your sugar daddy!" Bart grinned. "Let me go so I can kill you." Peyton replied. Before she could do anything else Bart started kissing her. He gently let go of her arms and laid his hands on her back. Peyton laid her hands on his hips and slowly moved them up so they were around his neck. They moved to the living room without letting go of each other. Peyton pulled of his shirt. Bart stopped for a moment. "Are you sure, you're ready?" Peyton just nodded and started kissing him again.

Lucas was waiting at the front door of Brooke's house. He had just knocked and it was taking his girlfriend longer than usual to open it. When he saw the door open and Brooke appear he understood why it had taken so long. He looked at Brooke's wet hair and the towel wrapped around her body. He smiled. "Brooke, a towel? That's not your style." He teased. Brooke sighed. "Men are pigs." She stuck out her tongue. Lucas quickly grabbed hold of it and started laughing. "Didn't see that coming, huh pretty girl?" Brooke carefully shook her head. He let go of her and they went inside. "Now what do I have to do, to get that towel off you?" Lucas gave her a mischievous look. Brooke bit her lower lip. "Not that much, boyfriend. Just say you love me." "I love you Brooke Davis, more than anything in this world. I would die without you." Brooke smiled, put one foot on the lowest stair. She grabbed hold of her towel and threw it in Lucas' face, just before she ran up the stairs. After getting the towel out off his face Lucas quickly followed.

8


	27. Chapter 27

Chapter 27: Dreams?

Another 2 months had passed. Graduation had only been a week ago and everyone was trying to get used to being a graduate. Tomorrow was the day Bart had been looking out to for quite some time now. Tomorrow he would get married to the girl he loved. He looked at himself in the mirror. The same mirror he had been looking in the first day he went to Tree Hill high. He couldn't shake the feeling that he looked older, more mature. He straitened his black tux and saw that it fit perfectly. He smiled at his reflection, which naturally did the same. He took a step to the side and looked at a poster that was hanging from the wall. He grabbed a towel and held it in his hands as if it were somebody else's hands. "I do, I do, I do." He tried different intonations but couldn't find the right one. He shrugged his shoulders. "If I can talk with all my nerves that will be a accomplishment on it's own." He said to himself. He took of his tux and carefully laid it on his desk. He got into his bed and slowly fell to sleep.

Bart was awake, wide awake yet he kept his eyes closed. He wanted to enjoy his last morning as a 'single' man. He pulled his blankets tighter around him and just laid there. When he felt the first rays of sunlight fall on his face he slowly opened up his eyes. He was shocked. He wasn't at the room he had spent a year in. He was back in his old room in Amsterdam. He got up and looked around. Everything was there, the poster of his favorite Dutch basketball team. His old schoolbooks next to the closet. The picture of him as a kid with his brothers at his grandparents' summer house, which was standing on his dresser. The mirror that had been hanging on his door ever since he could remember. He moved closer to the mirror and saw that he looked different too. His hair was like it had always been. It was sticking as if it tried to escape from his scalp. The small scar above his eye from his encounter with Dan was gone and even though he looked exactly the same he thought that he looked younger, like he hadn't lived yet. He kept staring at his reflection when he heard his mom call that breakfast was ready. His mom, did she do this? Did she have him abducted or something? No that was crazy. Bart laughed with his thoughts but was still a little paranoid. He grabbed some clothes out of his closet and slowly made his way down stairs.

The closer he got to the kitchen, the more he could smell the scent of his mom's famous pancakes. When the smell had hit his nose he realized how hungry he really was. He grabbed hold of the door handle, opened it and saw a scene that was far too familiar. Eric was in his boxers, dipping his pancakes in his orange juice. Everyone who saw him do it for the first time thought it was a disgusting habit but the family Vanhooi had gotten used to it and would be worried if he didn't dip them. His youngest brother Frank was reading one of Bart's old NBA magazines, while he took some bites of his pancakes. After getting an angry look from his mom, Frank put away the magazine and started eating again with a sad face which quickly disappeared again when his mom gave him another angry look. Bart gazed upon his family, he was home again. Everything was like before he left. He tried to understand what was going on and just stood there in the door opening. "Have a seat Bart, your breakfast is getting cold." Martha smiled at him. Bart awoke from his trance and obeyed his mother. He looked at his brothers and realized how much he had missed them. Sure Eric had given him an unexpected visit but he missed living with his family. But he had a life with Peyton in stead. Peyton this was the first time he had thought about her after the shock of being home again. He was getting married today. Now doubt and questions were rising again. He decided to ask his mom what was going on after breakfast, when they could talk in private. For now he would enjoy being with his family again. Bart quietly ate his breakfast. "Bart do you want to play some basketball after breakfast?" Bart looked up and stared at his youngest brother Frank, who was highly anticipating his answer. "I don't know Frank, do you want to loose?" Bart teased. Frank looked a little sad. "You never let me win." "Hey I'm older than you. Now I'm still young enough to beat you so I'm taking advantage of that." Bart grinned. "Besides it's the only way you'll learn." Frank sobbed a bit and ate his last peace of pancake. He cleared his plate and already grabbed his basketball shoes. "Frank why don't you go and warm up a little? I need to talk to mom for a second." "Okay Bart!" Frank screamed, already halfway outside.

Everyone was done eating now and Eric had already disappeared to his room, probably to play some sort of videogame. Bart helped his mom clean of the table. "Mom I need to talk to you." Bart said when the kitchen was sparkling again. "Um sure son." Martha took a seat. "What's wrong?" Bart looked puzzled at her. "I think you know what's wrong." Martha still gave him a clueless look. "What am I doing here mom? Yesterday I was at Andy's house in America. I go to sleep and wake up here. Something's wrong." Martha smiled. "Bart what are you talking about? You went to bed yesterday evening and woke up an hour ago." Now Bart was confused. "How can that be? I've been in America for almost 10 months." "Bart you leave for America in month. You've been here all the time. I think you had a very interesting dream." Martha chuckled. "A dream? But it felt so real." "Dreams often do Bart." "So everything I've gone through wasn't true?" "I'm sorry son but I think so. Now if you'll excuse me I've got to go to work in half an hour." "Yeah alright mom." Martha gave him a kiss on his forehead. "I know dreams can be scary and that you're nervous to leave but everything will be alright." She smiled. "I guess so, thanks mom." Bart smiled back at her and watched her leave the kitchen. Bart just sat there for a while. Could it all have been a dream? Losing the baby, his new friends, his basketball successes but most of all Peyton. Where they all an invention of his imagination? Bart's thoughts were interrupted by Frank who was impatiently knocking on the kitchen window, signaling for him to come out and play some ball.

Frank and Bart came back inside. Frank was exhausted but Bart was still fresh. It confused him; it was like he still had the same form from playing a basketball season with Whitey as his coach. So some things of himself were like they were before he left and some things were still the same as if he had never left. It all just added up to more confusion. He untied his shoes, grabbed a water bottle and went into the living room to watch TV. He was switching through channels when he stopped on one program. There was a girl with blonde curls being interviewed and even though she looked nothing like Peyton, her hair was enough to make him think of her. He felt his heart rate raise. This wasn't normal; a dream couldn't make you fall in love. Or could it? No, that's impossible. But why did he feel like this, that his heart belonged to her, was she a real person somewhere in that big country called America. What was she doing? Was she now in Jake's arms, instead of his? That thought made him angry, he had forgiven Jake but the thought that Peyton was with him made him crazy. He shook his head and smiled. "What am I doing? It was all part of a dream." Bart said to himself. He switched on some old Looney tunes cartoon and watched roadrunner fooling the coyote.

Bart had watched cartoons for about an hour when he decided that it was time to take a shower. He had just gotten up when his cell phone started to ring. He looked at the caller ID and to his surprise it said 'Nate'. Bart stared at his phone in shock. "Hello?" "Bart, it's Nate. Where the hell are you man?" Bart listened in shock. "Um, Nathan is that you?" Bart could barely speak. "No, it's the Easter bunny. Off course it's me. Where are you man? You're getting married today." "Wait, what? I'm still getting married?" "Duh, dude what's up with you?" "I don't know Nathan but I'm in Amsterdam." "You are where? I've heard of getting cold feet but this is ridiculous." "I didn't get cold feet. I woke up here. I thought that everything was a dream, you, Luke, Brooke and Peyton. Everything and everyone." "So you just woke up back home?" Nathan sounded confused. "Yeah I did and it's really freaking me out and your call isn't helping." "Dude, that's just nuts. Where are you really? This isn't funny anymore." "Nate I swear. I could get one of my brothers on the phone to proof it." "No it's fine I believe you. I guess there's only one thing you can do now." "Please enlighten me Mr. Scott." Bart replied sarcastically. "You have to wake up!" Nathan shouted through the phone. "Wait what?" Bart asked puzzled. "Wake up, wake up man! Bart wake up!" Bart listened to Nathan who wasn't making any sense when suddenly everything turned black.

When he finally got his vision back, Bart saw Nathan screaming and he was shaking him by the shoulders. Bart just stared at him. Was this real? Nathan saw that he was awake and stopped his efforts to wake him up. Bart got out of his bed. He was back in Tree Hill. His best friend was standing in front of him. He looked at his desk and his tux was still there, just as he left it. Without saying a word he grabbed Nathan in a hug. Nathan was overwhelmed and didn't know what to say. Bart released him. "This is real right?" Bart looked puzzled and Nathan did the same. "Off course this is real. Dude what's up, hugging men isn't really my thing and if I remember correctly it also isn't for you. Well except when you're drunk which you should get some help for." Nathan grinned. "I'm sorry Nate. I just had this weird dream that I was back home and that I've never been in the US. I was back with my brothers, my mom. It really freaked me out." Bart tried to remember his dream which was already starting to fade from his memory. Nathan just smiled. "Dude that's messed up." "I know I'm just glad that I'm back." "Yeah me too." Nathan hit him on the shoulder. "Listen" Nathan continued "Brooke sent me up here to get you. She was afraid you would be naked or something." Bart looked puzzled. "Yeah I know a naked man shouldn't scare Brooke Davis." Nathan chuckled. "But you need to come down stairs she's got a surprise for you." Bart just went with it and followed Nathan down stairs.

"Brooke where are you?!" Nathan shouted. "In the kitchen Nathan!" They heard Brooke yelling back. Bart and Nathan went to the kitchen and when they arrived there he thought he was dreaming again. He saw his grandfather and two brothers sitting at the table. "Bart!" Frank shouted and ran over to give his oldest brother a hug. Bart stood frozen solid for a while and than wrapped his arms around his baby brother. When they released each other, he tried to gather his thoughts. "What are you guys doing here?" Bart could barely speak. He saw his grandfather smile. "You didn't think I would miss my oldest grandson's wedding right?" "But how?" "That's where I come in." Brooke smiled. "I used my connections." "Thanks Brooke this is just. I can't find the words." "Don't mention it Bart. I was happy to do it." She gave him a quick hug. "So I hope you brought tuxes because you're standing at that altar with me." He saw everyone nod and smile. He felt Frank pull on his shirt. Bart looked at him. Frank signaled him to come closer. Bart ducked and Frank whispered something in his ear. Bart listened and smiled. "Sure I think we have some time." He looked at Nathan. "Quick game?" He asked, Nathan smiled. "Sure B." Bart smiled. "Come on Eric. You with Nathan against me and Frank." He saw Eric sigh. "Are you any good man?" Eric looked at Nathan. "Well I know the ball is supposed to go through the basket." Nathan laughed. They all went outside. Brooke said a quick goodbye because she had to go to Peyton's house. Bart gave her a quick hug and than followed the rest outside.


	28. Chapter 28

**Chapter 28: I do. **

It was three p.m. and Bart and Nathan had just gotten ready. They were looking at themselves in a mirror. Bart straightened his jacked and smiled at his reflection. "Say what you want Nate but we make tuxes look good." He smirked at his best man. "You said it B but to be honest we make anything look good." Nathan playfully hit him on his shoulder. This wedding was brining up a lot of old memories for Nathan, good memories, it made him think of his own wedding and that was enough to put him a great a mood. But he was a little bit worried about Haley, the baby was already a week late and he could tell that she was getting pretty sick of it. "Bart are you nervous?" Nathan tried to change his centre of attention back to his friend, it was his day after all. "More then anything Nate but a good kind of nervous you know, like before a game nervous but only times three." Nathan looked at his wrist watch and saw that it was time to head off to the church. "B we got to go man, you don't want to be late at your own wedding right?" Nathan saw Bart laugh a little. "What?" He asked. "Nothing just that getting late would have a dramatic effect." Nathan rolled his eyes.

They were about halfway, Nathan was driving and as usual the stereo was blasting out loud old school Hip Hop. They were both nodding their head along with the beat until they heard a loud bang and Nathan was forced to pull over. They both looked at each other kind of worried and sighed. They stepped out of the car and saw that one of the tires was flat. "You wouldn't happen to know how to change a flat tire would you?" Bart asked Nathan. Nathan just shook his head. "I don't but I have seen Lucas do it a couple of times." Nathan looked a little powerless but did get to the trunk and got out the tools to start working. "Nate did you bring your cell phone?" Bart asked feeling his pockets but finding nothing. "No I forgot and if I did where should I put it, tuxes great looking as the are, are not very handy when it comes to stuff like that." Bart sighed. "I just hope we wont be late."

Brooke and Haley were nervously waiting outside a backroom of the church. Peyton wanted to put on her dress in private. She had kept her dress a well hidden secret from everybody even Haley and Brooke. "Okay guys, you can come in!" They heard Peyton shout. They both quickly glanced at each other when Brooke couldn't stand the wait anymore and turned the door knob. They walked inside and were just shocked. They both looked at Peyton from top to bottom, she was wearing a strapless white dress and just looked stunning. "Peyton you look beautiful." Haley said in awe. "Yeah Haley's right, I almost want to marry you. That's how good you look." Brooke said with a smirk. She saw Peyton laugh. "Hmm, play your cards right B. Davis and maybe I will marry you." Peyton winked at her. "No first you produce some hot kids with the foreign hunk and then you dump him for me." She saw Peyton flinch when she mentioned kids. "Peyton, I'm sorry. I wasn't thi…" "It's okay Brooke." Peyton interrupted her. "I'm going to check if everybody's ready." Haley said and gave Peyton a quick hug.

Haley stepped into the church and saw everyone stare at her. Bart and Peyton had made it a small wedding so there weren't that many people there but still it was kind of weird being stared at in a church when you're not the bride. Haley saw that there was still no Bart or Nathan at the altar and she rushed over to Lucas. "Hey Luke, where are Bart and Nathan?" She asked a bit worried. Lately everything made her worry, she was blaming her damn hormones. Why couldn't that kid just come out already. Haley was fed up with being pregnant. She saw Lucas shrug his shoulder. "I don' know Hales. I'll make a quick call." Lucas pulled out his cell and moved to the side of the church so he was a little more private. When he came back to Haley, he was shaking his head. "No answer Hales." Haley looked shocked at him. "Luke you don't think something has happened right?" Haley was already starting to freak out. "Oh no Bart must have gotten cold feet, the wedding's off. No, this is going to crush Peyton's heart. This is the last thing she needs." She rambled. "Hales relax, I'm sure they're just stuck in traffic." Lucas reassured her and she seemed to settle down. "You're probably right Luke. So what do we do?" She saw Lucas give her a puzzled look. "I mean do we wait, tell Peyton, not tell Peyton, go look for them?" Lucas watched at his best friend amused, it was still Haley but like on some sort of drug. "For now we wait Hales and don't tell anything to Peyton. Okay?" Haley just nodded and stormed off again.

Lucas sighed and took his seat next to Jake. These last few weeks had been hard for him. He still didn't approve of his mom's engagement to Andy and he had been camping out at Brooke's or Nathan and Haley's house. He had been able to successfully avoid her but today he was going to face her sooner or later. He looked to his right and on Bart's side was sitting Karen next to Andy, she seemed happy and even put in a sneak peek to look at her son. _Why is this so hard for me? _He thought to himself. He should be happy for her, them but he just couldn't shake the feeling that they were making a big mistake. It was weird, he was so happy for Peyton and Bart that they had found each other and those two didn't knew each other much longer then his mom knew Andy and they were in high school, just turned 18. He could be happy for a couple of kids who were probably facing a hard time as a young couple without an income, college. But he felt like they were going to be okay.

He sighed once more and was a little startled when he felt a hand being placed on his shoulder. He looked to his side and saw that the hand belonged to none other then Jake Jagielski. "Luke you seem a little freaked out. Is there something wrong?" Lucas saw Jake put on a face of genuine concern. Lucas thought things over, should he tell Jake what was going on, should Jake even be here, let's face it he had made both Peyton's and Bart's lives more complicated then they had to be. He gave Jake a fake smile. "Everything's fine man. I've just never been a marriage kind of guy." He lied, the last thing he wanted to tell Jake was that Bart hadn't showed up yet. True Jake had become normal again the last month and Bart seemed to have forgiven him but Lucas had to admit that he was still a little skeptical.

David was standing in front of the church, smoking a cigarette. He was just so nervous, his oldest son was getting married. He was going to see his other two sons after years of not knowing that they even existed. His dad was here, Bart's grandfather, life had just taken such a twist. One moment, he's a handyman living in small apartment in downtown Charlotte, the next he's a father of three, divorced and ashamed of ever leaving his family. He knew it was not his fault but he couldn't help to feel guilty if he would just had told someone where he was going, they would have come looking for him and even though he would still be without memory, his sons would know what happened to him, he would still be in their lives. He snapped out of his thoughts when he heard the church doors open behind him. He quickly looked back and sighed. "Hey dad." He said in an embarrassed way. "Hey son." David's dad moved closer to his son and stopped when he was standing next to him. He looked at his feet and didn't know what to say to his son, who he had missed all those years, missed but also hated for leaving him and his grandsons. "David, I'm glad you're okay and glad that you are not one of those fathers who abandoned his family. I mean, what happened to you was terrible and no one should go through that." David looked at his dad and he felt his eyes getting teary. "But I did leave dad, even if the accident didn't happen, I left." "Son, you wanted a new life for yourself, your sons. You were hurt and wanted to start over. There is nothing wrong with that, you hear me?!" "It doesn't feel like that dad, it just doesn't. On one hand I'm glad to know that my son's have turned out so well, on the other I'm bummed out that I wasn't there." "David just think about what the future is going to bring, you know. You're going to see them become men, you'll have grandchildren and believe me except for when your own kids are born, there is no greater feeling then looking at the son of your son." David felt his dad pat him on the back. "Now come on, your son's getting married." David smiled at his dad and followed him inside the church.

"Hales why can't we start? I've been waiting for thirty minutes. Is there something I should know?" Peyton asked impatiently. Ever since Haley had gotten back from the church, she was acting weird and nervously even for her. "No everything's fine Peyton. The reverent is a little late, probably stuck in traffic or something." Haley reassured her but Peyton didn't buy it, there was just something, she could tell. She raised an eyebrow "come on Hales tell me the truth." She saw Haley look at her feet which was kind of pointless because her stomach was in the way. "Okay Peyton I'll tell you but promise me not to freak out." Peyton felt fear when she heard those words, something bad was happening. "I can't promise you that Hales, the fact that you even have to make me promise that isn't a good sign. So I'm probably going to freak out." Peyton replied. "Bart and Nathan haven't shown up yet." Haley whispered. Peyton felt her heart break. "He's not here? Where is he?" Peyton was already feeling her eyes get teary. What if Bart had changed his mind? How would she react to that? Would he be yet another person that was going to leave her, after always reassuring her that he would be there for her. "Peyton relax okay, Nathan isn't here either so I'm sure that they are just stuck in traffic or something." Haley tried to comfort her. "Then why haven't they called Hales?" "I don't know Peyton, me and Lucas have tried to call but there is no answer. I'm sure they are just a little late." "Yeah Peyton, Haley's right. Bart would never do that to you." Brooke joined in the conversation. Peyton looked at Brooke and Haley and relaxed a little. She took a deep breath "you guys are right. Bart wouldn't do that." She had just said those words when someone knocked on the door.

The girls turned their heads as the door opened they saw Lucas come in. "Everything's ready." He smiled. The girls sighed in relief. "I told you." Haley said. "Okay smartass you were right. Let's just get out there." Peyton said excited.

Music started to fill the church and Bart nervously looked at the entrance of the big yet cozy church. He looked at the friends he had made this year sitting on the benches. He smiled at his brothers. Eric was clearly bored and on the verge of falling into a deep sleep state. Frank seemed to be enjoying himself and seemed to be talking to Skills about basketball. Behind him were standing his dad and granddad next to his best man Nathan. His entire family was here and he was glad that the Vanhooi men were reunited again but his mind did wonder of to Holland for a while, to his mom who was sitting alone now. Why couldn't she just make peace with everything, he loved his mom and that was never going to change but he hated the fact that she didn't want to except Peyton into the family. His thoughts were interrupted when the bridesmaids started coming towards the altar, followed by Peyton who was being guided by her dad. Bart looked at Nathan and grinned, his best man did the same when he looked back, Peyton was almost standing next to him. He saw Larry kiss his daughter on the cheek and guided her next to Bart. Bart couldn't avert his eyes from her anymore, rays of sun were falling down on her golden curls and she almost looked like an angel, an angel who was going to share the rest of her life with him. He couldn't help but to smile at that thought. The music stopped and the minister started the sermon.

The sermon had been going on for a while when it was time for Bart and Peyton to take their vows. Bart grabbed hold of Peyton's hands took a deep breath and looked into her eyes. "I can't believe that I'm standing here, to be honest my life has been unbelievable the last year. When I came to America I didn't know what to expect, my life has always been about responsibilities and taking care of my family, this year was going to be the first year that I had the chance to just do what makes me happy and you Peyton Sawyer make me happy. From the first time I saw you I knew that you would be important to me, to my life and here we are. You are the main reason of my happiness, love, everything good in my life. I love you Peyton and I always will." Bart smiled, he was blushing a little after his little speech but seeing her smile back at him made it all worth it.

Peyton listened to Bart's vows she knew that he meant every word and she just felt so lucky to have found a man like him. Her hole life she had been looking for that person who would love her unconditionally and here he was standing in front of her pouring his heart out in front of all of her family and friends. She smiled when he was done and said a soundless thank you. She thought for a moment when it was her turn, there had been going on so much that she hadn't really thought about her vows but she figured that vows should come from the heart and you can't write that on a piece of paper. " My whole life I've always had people leave me, relatives, loves, friends but you never left me and I know you never will. You have made me more happy then I ever was and I'm so glad that you are in my life. I still remember the first day I met you, who would have thought we would get here but I'm glad we proved them wrong. We've already had to go through so much heartache but we did it together and that's how I know we will make it. I love you Bart and I always will." Peyton couldn't stop smiling, she was just so happy, nothing could bring her down. They both averted their attention back on the minister when he started speaking again.

Everyone in the church was just captured by the magic of it all. Bart and Peyton slipped the ring on each others finger and a few people couldn't fight of the tears anymore. Especially Brooke who had begun a loud sobbing that was almost disturbing the sermon. Haley nudged Brooke's side with her elbow trying to make her stop. "I'm sorry, I'm not good at weddings." Brooke whispered. Haley raised her eyebrow at her but smiled after. They both looked back at Bart and Peyton and were just in time to hear the minister say "I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride." Bart kissed Peyton and the entire church cheered.

Lucas was sitting alone at the wedding party. Everyone was having a good time but he could not forget about the fight he was having with his mom. He looked at her and she was having fun sitting next to Andy who was only a few seats removed from Bart. Lucas was a bit shocked when suddenly Brooke jumped on his lap, totally surprised to feel her lips onto his. That sweet taste that always came with her kisses there was nothing in the world that could top the taste of Brooke Davis' lips. She released him and gave him a sort of worried look. "What's wrong Lucas you've been pouting through the entire celebration. This is supposed to be a happy occasion you know." She said in a teasing way. Lucas sighed and glanced at his mom again. Brooke quickly caught on. "Lucas just go talk to her." "I can't Brooke. I still think they are making a mistake, a big mistake."

Brooke looked at Lucas and she was just glad he was sharing it all with her. The old Lucas or better the Lucas from a year ago would bottle this all up inside and just avoid any form of human contact including his girlfriend. She was so happy with him, he had finally became the boyfriend she had always wanted, one that shared what he was thinking and searched comfort with her instead of his own brain and heart. She took a deep breath and looked deep into his blue eyes, those eyes which could just make her melt. "Listen Lucas, you're mom has been alone for a long time. She's happy and you should be happy for her." She playfully punched him on the shoulder. Lucas sighed "you're right. I'll talk to them tomorrow this is Peyton and Bart's day." Brooke nodded and gave him a quick peck on the lips.

Everyone looked up when the DJ announced that it was time for the happy couple's first dance. Bart offered his hand to Peyton and she accepted, smiling from ear to ear. Bart had really been curious about the song Peyton had selected, music was her department so he had faith that she would pick the right song for their first dance. They were standing on the centre of the dance floor and he was just full of nerves. He looked at her a little surprised when he heard that the song was Elvis' 'Love me tender', he smiled and thought it was appropriate for the relationship they shared. He pulled her closer to him looking into her eyes, smelling her hair, feeling her body against his. He enjoyed the moment. They just danced and looked into each other eyes, words couldn't express how they felt because there weren't any to describe how they felt for each other but every time they looked into each other's eyes they knew, they knew that everything was not important as long as they had each other. Bart moved his lips towards hers and when he tasted her, he still had that same feeling after they had kissed for the first time, the world seemed to stop turning, everything around them froze up and all that mattered was them.

Haley was watching Peyton and Bart enjoy their first dance. It just reminded her of what love feels like, she feels it every day when Nathan took her in his arms. She looked at her husband who was looking at her and she knew he was thinking the same thing. She grabbed hold of his hand when her stomach started to hurt. She flinched, and let go of Nathan's hand. Nathan put his hands on her stomach and back. "Hales are you all right?" Haley looked back up into his eyes and smiled. "Nathan, I think my water broke." Nathan looked shocked at her and heard everyone clap, indicating Bart and Peyton had finished dancing, yet he did not care. "Are you sure?" He didn't really know what else to say or do. Haley looked at him and smiled. "Yes Nathan I'm sure, as a sharp pain started to spread around her stomach again. Nathan took her arm and supported her so she could stand up. "Let's get you to the hospital then." He said calmly. That did surprise him a little, he had pictured these 9 months that he was going to freak when the day was finally there. He guided her towards the exit when he heard Bart shout behind him. "Nate what's going on?" He quickly looked back. "I'm going to be a dad B!" Nathan put Haley in the passengers seat and quickly drove to the hospital. Followed by his friends and family.

Everyone was nervously sitting in the waiting room. They had been waiting for over six hours and everyone was still in their tuxes and dresses. Bart was nervously walking up and down the room and finally took a seat next to Peyton. He grabbed her hand and squeezed it softly and felt her squeeze back. Bart had to admit that he had mixed up emotions about all of this. On one hand he was happy for Nathan and Haley, he knew how much Nathan was looking forward to having a son and he was glad his best friend was finally going to be able to do it. On the other he was sad, sad for the lost of his daughter a few months ago. He could only think about how he was supposed to hold her 30 days after Nathan's baby was born. He looked at Peyton and he could see it in her eyes that she was thinking the same. "Also thinking about her?" He asked silently, she just nodded and he saw a small tear come from her eye. He caught it with his index finger, he wrapped his arm around her shoulder and felt her rest her head on his chest. "Someday Peyton." He whispered and felt her nod. "Someday" she whispered back.

They both looked up when Nathan came out of the delivery room. He looked over his friends and family who where all staring at him. He smiled and nodded. "Everything went great." He laughed. Everyone stood up, the guys shook his hand and the girls hugged him. Everyone except for Peyton and Bart who were still sitting in each other's arms. He saw Peyton wipe a tear from her face and he knew what was going through their minds and as happy as he was he did feel a little sad for the newly weds. Peyton and Bart got up, he received a hug from Peyton. That only left Bart, he looked at his best friend, glad he was there, that they had met. Bart stuck out his hand, Nathan grabbed hold of it only to be pulled into a tight yet brief hug. He looked at his friend and just nodded, Nathan new that despite everything that he was happy for him. "Enough of this, let us see that cute Scott kid." Brooke interrupted, everyone chuckled and stepped into the delivery room.

One month later

Bart was unpacking his suitcase, he had just returned from his honeymoon with Peyton. With the money from Dan's dealership they were able to go all out, and because the wedding was small they could spend a little more on the honeymoon. Bart had enjoyed touring Europe with the woman he loved. They had ended the trip by visiting his mom in Amsterdam and she did seem to be a little more friendly towards Peyton, she was acting like his mom again and he was glad that he had his full family back. Old and new. He looked up when Peyton walked into her which had become their room. They would be leaving for college in two months and Larry would be out working most of the times, so they had decided to live in Peyton's house until packing up an leaving for Duke where their new lives would start. Bart moved to his wife and kissed her. "Getting used to being back in Tree Hill yet?" He asked while he held her in his arms. She shook her head and smiled at him. "I just wish we were still out there you know, visiting those wonderful places." Peyton thought back, off all the great sights they had seen. "Well we are back home now, ready to start our lives together." "That's true and I'm glad it's with you." Peyton rested her head on his chest. "Ditto." He whispered, putting his hands on her face and leading her in for a passionate kiss.

Brooke was looking around in the terminal of the airport. They had just landed from their trip to Venice which Lucas had given her as a birthday present. She looked behind her and saw Lucas wrestle with the suitcases, well her suitcases to be honest. All he had brought was one bag, the very same bag he used for games. She thought it was weird that he had been able to fit all his stuff in there. She smiled when he looked like he had finally gotten affirm grip on everything. "Ready to go boyfriend?" She asked cheerfully. Lucas just nodded and followed her to the parking lot.

After he had thrown everything in the trunk, he took a seat behind the wheel and turned the keys. He had been driving for about five minutes. "So happy to be back?" He asked, keeping his eyes on the road. He heard Brooke sigh loudly. He chuckled. "Can I assume that's a no?" "I wish it could have lasted for a few days longer." Brooke said in a whiney tone. "You get to see James again." Lucas tried to comfort her and he did see a smile form on her face. "Yeah I've missed my godson, he's just so cute." "Yeah, he must have that from Haley." "And his hot dad had nothing to do with it right?" Brooke replied, laughing. Lucas laughed too, he quickly glanced over to her and he just felt at ease. He had had a weird couple of years well one year to be precise with the whole Peyton and Brooke thing but he was glad he finally knew to whom his heart belonged and was sure it was Brooke Davis. "I love you pretty girl." He said out of the blue. "Well, I love you too boyfriend." Brooke smiled and moved a little closer to him so she could rest her head on his shoulder.

"Nathan, let me hold him." Haley whined. "But Hales he's so cute and he's my boy." Nathan replied childishly while he made faces causing for little Jamie to laugh. "Nathan, he's our son besides it's feeding time and although you have many talents, breast feeding isn't one of them." Nathan rolled his eyes, he knew he couldn't win this one. He reluctantly handed his son to Haley and stood up. And went into the kitchen. He always did that when Haley fed James. He knew everyone sees it as a natural and a beautiful thing but he always felt a little weird when she was feeding him besides this was a bond that was special between mother and child and he thought he needed to respect that. He grabbed a bottle of water out of the fridge and started to read a paper which was lying on the counter. After a minute or ten he heard Haley shout she was done, Nathan left his paper and moved into the living room again. "Shush he's sleeping." Haley said silently with their boy in her arms. Nathan took a seat next to her and looked at his boy peacefully sleeping in his mother's arms. He looked at Haley and gave her a quick kiss on the lips. She looked at him sheepishly. "What are you thinking Nathan?" "Nothing special, just about how happy I am with you and our son." He smiled and ran his hand through her hair. "I'm happy too, I love you Nathan." "I love you too Hales, always and?" "Forever." She kissed him again and looked back down at Jamie.

Everyone was sitting in Peyton and Bart's living room. Just hanging out, there was a party at Tric but they had all decided that they should treasure these last weeks together. There was a picture of little Jamie going around and everyone commented Haley and Nathan about how cute he looked. Brooke crooked her eyebrow at Nathan though. "Nate did you have to put a Duke cap on his head? I mean come on blue is so 2006." Everyone laughed at Brooke's comment. "What, it is." She said innocently only to feel Lucas' arm wrap around her shoulder and she laughed too. It was a pretty stupid thing to say. "So Nate we've already got a fan huh?" Bart asked. Nathan nodded. "Hey he's my fan." Nathan said in a sarcastic tone. "You just wait Scott, he's going to wear # 14 when he's in the stand." Bart shot back at him. "Alright stop it you too." Haley interrupted. "Yes mom." The boys said at the same time, causing for Haley to crack up a little. "We are going to have our hands full with those two." She said to Peyton. Peyton nodded. "Yeah we'll have three kids to take care off, all boys but maybe we can dress the big two up and have a pillow fight." All the girls started laughing, the boys did not seemed to be amused. "Nate, B no offence but you two would look hot in dresses." Lucas added. Skills started to crack up and filled up the whole room with his laughter." "Oh you laugh Taylor, maybe I could get a dress from your mom because she's always taking them off when I'm around her." Nathan shot back and Skills' laughter was immediately silenced. "Nate, a momma joke? That's cold even for you." Skills said rather sadly. "It's okay baby he didn't mean it. We'll watch the Note Book later, that always cheers you up." All the guys started laughing. "You shouldn't laugh Lucas Eugene Scott. When we watched the Note Book you cried your eyes out." Brooke said sternly while playfully pointing her finger at him. Now everyone was laughing.

Everyone kept quiet for a while when Brooke spoke up again. "So this it, the end of an era?" Everyone looked at their feet for a moment. "Well we'll be doing different things but still be friends right?" Peyton asked and everyone nodded. "Let's just make one promise to each other. No matter what happens we'll be together when we start to raise our kids and settle down." Peyton looked at Haley who was coughing, for her to change her statement. "Oh sorry, when everyone starts to raise their kids." She corrected herself receiving a smile from Haley. Everyone made sounds of agreement.

Bart was in his old room in Andy's house, picking up some last things. It was here where it all began for him. Peyton, all his new friends, basketball. He was glad that he had made the decision to come to America even though it scared the hell out of him back then, it had all been worth it. He moved to his dresses where all his memories were standing on, in the form of pictures. He saw him and the ravens when they won state, there was one of him and Andy, when his brother had came to visit, him with Brooke and Haley at Tric just goofing around, with Nathan and Lucas, and others but most importantly several of him and Peyton. He carefully placed the pictures in his box and moved back towards the door. He gave his former room one last look and closed the door. This chapter of his life had ended but who knew which chapters still had to be written?

The End

14


End file.
